Halloween Circuit Training
This morning, we got an early start again at 5:45 am for circuit training. Nice and easy warmup run over to Austin High with Jennifer and Brian. Drills in the brightening skies showed that we had a lot of extra bodies there today. We ended up with maybe 30 folks, including a lot of the Chicago peeps coming back to regular workouts. Marathoners and half marathoners were to do 800m runs between circuits, the usual exercises. I ran all the 800's with Brian, Jennifer and Charlene, and we took it easy, running at 60% like Gilbert told us. We ended up with only 3 full circuits of exercises, though, before Gilbert called us all over for other fun stuff. The circuit exercises themselves aren't that big of a deal now that I've been good about going to the gym, but it's still a workout that lets you know you're working a bit.
The extra stuff was 2 x 1:00 rounds of "fast feet," followed by 2 x "running while holding breath," and then we repeated that. Total of 4 x 1:00 fast feet and 4 x 75-85 yards of running holding breath. Still not really sure what the holding breath thing is about, but we do it anyway.
Ran back with Jennifer, Brian and Matt, a little faster than the warmup, but still very comfortable. I stayed afterwards and stretched with Alex while we talked about various topics, mostly running. Shannon and Amy were there, too, after their 7 miler this morning, so we got a chance to talk, as well. It was really overcast and humid, with slightly warmer temps, but it was still way better weather than we had for all of September. For the day, 5.5 miles. Gilbert gave us permission to do a nice and easy 30-45 minute run this evening, so I might experiment with that. We've only got two hard workouts this week, Wednesday's 12-16 x 400m repeats, and Saturday's 16-18 miler. Otherwise, it's fairly casual.
Happy Halloween!
Monday, October 31, 2005
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Barton Skyway
The main clue to today's terrain should have been the name of the last street of the run, Barton Skyway. Any road that has "Skyway" in it isn't going to be flat in most places. I ran this loop back in June, in the heat, so this was my first time back since then. It's a good loop, flat to downhill for the first 5 miles, then hilly to very hilly for the last 5.5. With the glorious weather that we've been having (53 degrees this morning and clear), this would be a lot more fun than it was in June.
We started down at Porter Middle School at 6:00 am. Frank and Patrick joined us again after an extended post-Chicago break, but except for brief conversations before and after the run, we wouldn't see them much today. Even coming back after a marathon, they're still faster than our pace group. We did have Alex as a special guest runner with us today. He's been feeling pretty tired these last few days, so he decided to join us for the moderate long run for some lower pace running (slower than he usually runs, at least). Our group turned out to be Amy, Brian, Alex and me. We were very compatible, and stayed together the entire day, except for stretching out a little in the last mile or so when we kicked it for home.
It was a fun run, and we did a lot of talking. This was one of those runs where we gently picked up the pace more or less throughout the run. We got Powerade and water at Gilbert's first water stop, about 2.7 miles in, and then I nearly got us all run over at the busy Barton Springs Road intersection just a few minutes later (sorry, guys!). Then, we hit the trail for just a mile or two. It was still really dark for most of the run, so on the trail it was a little dicey with the footing, but we got through that without incident. We skipped the water at Mopac, due to the nice weather and no need. By the time we crossed Barton Springs Road again (much safer this time), we were halfway done, but all the hard miles were yet to come.
We went up the normal route to the Wilke hill workout, and continued past there, stopping for the second time at Gilbert's second Powerade stop. The blue Powerade was tasty! The Barton Hills loop was full of fun hills, and soon enough we got back to the water stop for a final cup of mojo. The last stretch was on Barton Skyway, which has two big hills. Alex took the lead there, and pulled us up both of those in quick fashion. That was the only time I really felt like we were pushing hard, but it was still not too bad. Brian pointed out a beautiful sunrise sky, where the clouds were almost painted by the rising sun. It really was spectacular. Once we reached Lamar again, it was just a slight incline and then a gentle downhill run to the finish at the school again. Brian and I pushed the pace on one side of Lamar, and Alex was pacing us on the other side of the (big) street. We got together at the very end. Amy finished just a few steps behind us.
It was a really strong run on this course, and I think that for the most part, we were pretty comfortable. A handful of striders on the grass there at the school, and it was time to head up to RunTex for the stretching session. Just a lot of fun today on a "short" run. It was good to see Pete after the stretching, too. He's headed to NYC next weekend for a 2:45-3:00 hour attempt at the Big Apple, so I gave him my scouting report on the course, to add to the information that he may already have. It'll be interesting to see how our Gazelles do in NYC. I know they've all worked very hard to get ready, and it's payoff time now.
Splits: 9:48, 9:19, 9:19 (.63 miles), 9:14, 8:46 (Alex picked it up in the dark on the trail), 9:08, 9:18 (hills), 9:23 (.7 miles of hills), 8:37 (hilly), 9:00 (.65 miles), 8:26 (Barton Skyway), 7:49 (.51 miles to the finish). Overall running pace 9:03 for 10.47 miles. With water stops, a still good 9:23/mile average.
Another good run. For various reasons, I needed this sort of run today. It's an instance where running with friends really helped to heal a troubled spirit. This is not to say that this was a run where I sought overt assistance from the crew, but the simple fact of the shared experience and the wonderful morning gave me much more than simple physical rewards. 'Nuff said.
For the week, "just" 34 miles running, two gym workouts, and some desultory indoor cycling on two defective cycles. Next week's mileage should bump up over 40 again, so this was more or less a recovery week of running in the midst of the hard training to come.
The main clue to today's terrain should have been the name of the last street of the run, Barton Skyway. Any road that has "Skyway" in it isn't going to be flat in most places. I ran this loop back in June, in the heat, so this was my first time back since then. It's a good loop, flat to downhill for the first 5 miles, then hilly to very hilly for the last 5.5. With the glorious weather that we've been having (53 degrees this morning and clear), this would be a lot more fun than it was in June.
We started down at Porter Middle School at 6:00 am. Frank and Patrick joined us again after an extended post-Chicago break, but except for brief conversations before and after the run, we wouldn't see them much today. Even coming back after a marathon, they're still faster than our pace group. We did have Alex as a special guest runner with us today. He's been feeling pretty tired these last few days, so he decided to join us for the moderate long run for some lower pace running (slower than he usually runs, at least). Our group turned out to be Amy, Brian, Alex and me. We were very compatible, and stayed together the entire day, except for stretching out a little in the last mile or so when we kicked it for home.
It was a fun run, and we did a lot of talking. This was one of those runs where we gently picked up the pace more or less throughout the run. We got Powerade and water at Gilbert's first water stop, about 2.7 miles in, and then I nearly got us all run over at the busy Barton Springs Road intersection just a few minutes later (sorry, guys!). Then, we hit the trail for just a mile or two. It was still really dark for most of the run, so on the trail it was a little dicey with the footing, but we got through that without incident. We skipped the water at Mopac, due to the nice weather and no need. By the time we crossed Barton Springs Road again (much safer this time), we were halfway done, but all the hard miles were yet to come.
We went up the normal route to the Wilke hill workout, and continued past there, stopping for the second time at Gilbert's second Powerade stop. The blue Powerade was tasty! The Barton Hills loop was full of fun hills, and soon enough we got back to the water stop for a final cup of mojo. The last stretch was on Barton Skyway, which has two big hills. Alex took the lead there, and pulled us up both of those in quick fashion. That was the only time I really felt like we were pushing hard, but it was still not too bad. Brian pointed out a beautiful sunrise sky, where the clouds were almost painted by the rising sun. It really was spectacular. Once we reached Lamar again, it was just a slight incline and then a gentle downhill run to the finish at the school again. Brian and I pushed the pace on one side of Lamar, and Alex was pacing us on the other side of the (big) street. We got together at the very end. Amy finished just a few steps behind us.
It was a really strong run on this course, and I think that for the most part, we were pretty comfortable. A handful of striders on the grass there at the school, and it was time to head up to RunTex for the stretching session. Just a lot of fun today on a "short" run. It was good to see Pete after the stretching, too. He's headed to NYC next weekend for a 2:45-3:00 hour attempt at the Big Apple, so I gave him my scouting report on the course, to add to the information that he may already have. It'll be interesting to see how our Gazelles do in NYC. I know they've all worked very hard to get ready, and it's payoff time now.
Splits: 9:48, 9:19, 9:19 (.63 miles), 9:14, 8:46 (Alex picked it up in the dark on the trail), 9:08, 9:18 (hills), 9:23 (.7 miles of hills), 8:37 (hilly), 9:00 (.65 miles), 8:26 (Barton Skyway), 7:49 (.51 miles to the finish). Overall running pace 9:03 for 10.47 miles. With water stops, a still good 9:23/mile average.
Another good run. For various reasons, I needed this sort of run today. It's an instance where running with friends really helped to heal a troubled spirit. This is not to say that this was a run where I sought overt assistance from the crew, but the simple fact of the shared experience and the wonderful morning gave me much more than simple physical rewards. 'Nuff said.
For the week, "just" 34 miles running, two gym workouts, and some desultory indoor cycling on two defective cycles. Next week's mileage should bump up over 40 again, so this was more or less a recovery week of running in the midst of the hard training to come.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Gym, Gym, Gym, Gym
Ah, yes, another Friday at the gym. Yet again, I chose a stationary cycle that was not completely functional. I did not discover this until I shifted levels on the bike, and no apparent increase in effort was required. Sigh... Just spinning away, I guess, did the required job of warming up the legs, but this is getting old. I'll have to more carefully choose my machine next time. A little stretching after that, and then it was time for the main event.
Core stuff was rigorous, but only intermittently awful. The plank stuff, with the new longer times, gets to be tough towards the last 15-20 seconds of each "rep." Those are good exercises, though. Leg exercises were the same old thing, but after consulting Wednesday with Ron, my massage guy, I think I may need to add standing calf raises, to get the gastroc muscles, and he thinks big boy leg presses should be on my list. I'll discuss those new options with Alex, who is our gym guru. His physical therapist got him doing those exercises when he was hurt, so I want to hear why they're on his routine.
The arm stuff was big fun. I'm ready to move up on bicep curls next time, to a 60 lb bar, since I did 2x15 @ 50 lbs for the second workout in a row. Moved up on bench today, too, to 90 lbs, and did 2x10 at that weight. On seated rows, moved up to 80 lbs, for 2x12 reps. Stayed with 30 lbs on the dumbbell overhead tricep extensions, but got to 2x12 reps there. I know that arm strength is not all that important for running, and may even be counterproductive, but I'm not going to add a lot of body mass to my ectomorphic frame. It can help burn calories, though, so I continue to do the longer upper body workout.
It was a good one today, and tomorrow is a shorter run, at 10-12 miles, but still hilly. Should be fun, and the cool mornings are still with us, so it'll be nice. I think most of the Chicago people will be rejoining us, too, so that will give us more people to hang out with during the run.
Ah, yes, another Friday at the gym. Yet again, I chose a stationary cycle that was not completely functional. I did not discover this until I shifted levels on the bike, and no apparent increase in effort was required. Sigh... Just spinning away, I guess, did the required job of warming up the legs, but this is getting old. I'll have to more carefully choose my machine next time. A little stretching after that, and then it was time for the main event.
Core stuff was rigorous, but only intermittently awful. The plank stuff, with the new longer times, gets to be tough towards the last 15-20 seconds of each "rep." Those are good exercises, though. Leg exercises were the same old thing, but after consulting Wednesday with Ron, my massage guy, I think I may need to add standing calf raises, to get the gastroc muscles, and he thinks big boy leg presses should be on my list. I'll discuss those new options with Alex, who is our gym guru. His physical therapist got him doing those exercises when he was hurt, so I want to hear why they're on his routine.
The arm stuff was big fun. I'm ready to move up on bicep curls next time, to a 60 lb bar, since I did 2x15 @ 50 lbs for the second workout in a row. Moved up on bench today, too, to 90 lbs, and did 2x10 at that weight. On seated rows, moved up to 80 lbs, for 2x12 reps. Stayed with 30 lbs on the dumbbell overhead tricep extensions, but got to 2x12 reps there. I know that arm strength is not all that important for running, and may even be counterproductive, but I'm not going to add a lot of body mass to my ectomorphic frame. It can help burn calories, though, so I continue to do the longer upper body workout.
It was a good one today, and tomorrow is a shorter run, at 10-12 miles, but still hilly. Should be fun, and the cool mornings are still with us, so it'll be nice. I think most of the Chicago people will be rejoining us, too, so that will give us more people to hang out with during the run.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Dancin' In The Moonlight
Okay, so I didn't actually dance. But, tonight's recovery/easy hour run was particularly fun. I felt really comfortable and light on my feet, and the time passed quickly. I covered 6.6 miles in my 60 minutes, more or less, for a 9:11 average pace. I pushed a tiny bit harder than usual, HR-wise, but it didn't feel all that rushed. I'll be more careful with these runs as the mileage piles up, but tonight it felt like this is how I should be running. I moved today's run to the evening on purpose, to get a little more rest time between it and the 800m repeats yesterday morning. 36 hours rest instead of 24. With no run tomorrow, this spaces out the Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday runs nicely.
Did some balance drills when I got back to the house (the run was on the usual combination of road and trails in the 'Hood) and finished the run off with some strider-like action. Also did a good bit of the stretching once I got inside. Tomorrow is gymtastic, and then we get some more hills in the longer run on Saturday. Should be fun!
Okay, so I didn't actually dance. But, tonight's recovery/easy hour run was particularly fun. I felt really comfortable and light on my feet, and the time passed quickly. I covered 6.6 miles in my 60 minutes, more or less, for a 9:11 average pace. I pushed a tiny bit harder than usual, HR-wise, but it didn't feel all that rushed. I'll be more careful with these runs as the mileage piles up, but tonight it felt like this is how I should be running. I moved today's run to the evening on purpose, to get a little more rest time between it and the 800m repeats yesterday morning. 36 hours rest instead of 24. With no run tomorrow, this spaces out the Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday runs nicely.
Did some balance drills when I got back to the house (the run was on the usual combination of road and trails in the 'Hood) and finished the run off with some strider-like action. Also did a good bit of the stretching once I got inside. Tomorrow is gymtastic, and then we get some more hills in the longer run on Saturday. Should be fun!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
800m Repeats
Man, it was great out there this morning! Temps right at 40 degrees, crisp and clear. Since it's fairly suddenly gotten cool here, we're all sort of getting acclimated to the cool mornings, but it's a great problem to have. We're still waiting for the Chicago folks to start filtering back into the morning workouts, but about 20 of us warmed up over to Austin High School's track for some precise speedwork. Once again, it was dark throughout the workout, but by next week, after the time change, it'll be really nice and just enough light to see our watches and such.
Drills drilled, we grouped up for the 800's. I was amused when my group was the second group called to the start line. It's nice when those really fast people aren't there, because we get artificially boosted up the ladder as a result. A new girl was with us, but I didn't get her name since she did just 4 repeats. The main group was Jennifer, Brian, Charlene and me. Gilbert asked us to do one more repeat than we did last time, and assigned us 3:30 as our split times. 2:00 active rest between each repeat, which we needed today with the chilly air. You certainly didn't want to just stand around waiting for the repeat to start. We struggled a tiny bit figuring out the pace in the dark, but we ended up averaging the proper time. Jennifer, Brian and Charlene stopped at 6 repeats, with Brian blasting a great final 800 of 3:12 or something like that, and then I did my 7th repeat alone, picking up the pace nicely as well. It was a good set of repeats, and the cool weather really kept my HR down such that I probably was doing the repeats at Gilbert's mystical 80% effort level. Nice.
Splits: 3:36, 3:33, 3:26, 3:32, 3:29, 3:26, 3:16. Average pace 3:28 again, just under 7:00/mile pace for 5600 meters of speedwork. I'm happy about that.
Brian and I did 2x200m striders afterwards, and I felt pretty darned good. No real stiffness or aches. Then, Matt, Brian and I did a nice cooldown run back to RunTex.
It was just a fun day of running again. I stretched afterwards, enjoying the morning after getting warm clothes on, and then headed to Einstein's bagel shop for breakfast. I scored a hot cup of tea (Cinnamon Spice breakfast tea, which was really good with honey and lemon) and a bagel, and hung out getting warmed up with the sun streaming in through the windows. That quiet time just contemplating the world while enjoying the tea and bagel was pretty darned good.
After that, it was time for an early massage appointment, and Ron worked over my legs. The usual sore spots in the tibia muscles and calves, but basically, I'm doing a good job of taking care of my legs. I only thought about asking him to back off once, on the right calf muscle, but I got through it. Maintenance complete, the running day was done. For the day, 7.4 miles. This week will be a little lower in mileage, which is fine with me. 10-12 miler on Saturday will be nice and hilly, again, and Thursday is the usual easy 60 minute recovery run. It'll be good to have most of the Chicago folks back with us on Saturday.
Man, it was great out there this morning! Temps right at 40 degrees, crisp and clear. Since it's fairly suddenly gotten cool here, we're all sort of getting acclimated to the cool mornings, but it's a great problem to have. We're still waiting for the Chicago folks to start filtering back into the morning workouts, but about 20 of us warmed up over to Austin High School's track for some precise speedwork. Once again, it was dark throughout the workout, but by next week, after the time change, it'll be really nice and just enough light to see our watches and such.
Drills drilled, we grouped up for the 800's. I was amused when my group was the second group called to the start line. It's nice when those really fast people aren't there, because we get artificially boosted up the ladder as a result. A new girl was with us, but I didn't get her name since she did just 4 repeats. The main group was Jennifer, Brian, Charlene and me. Gilbert asked us to do one more repeat than we did last time, and assigned us 3:30 as our split times. 2:00 active rest between each repeat, which we needed today with the chilly air. You certainly didn't want to just stand around waiting for the repeat to start. We struggled a tiny bit figuring out the pace in the dark, but we ended up averaging the proper time. Jennifer, Brian and Charlene stopped at 6 repeats, with Brian blasting a great final 800 of 3:12 or something like that, and then I did my 7th repeat alone, picking up the pace nicely as well. It was a good set of repeats, and the cool weather really kept my HR down such that I probably was doing the repeats at Gilbert's mystical 80% effort level. Nice.
Splits: 3:36, 3:33, 3:26, 3:32, 3:29, 3:26, 3:16. Average pace 3:28 again, just under 7:00/mile pace for 5600 meters of speedwork. I'm happy about that.
Brian and I did 2x200m striders afterwards, and I felt pretty darned good. No real stiffness or aches. Then, Matt, Brian and I did a nice cooldown run back to RunTex.
It was just a fun day of running again. I stretched afterwards, enjoying the morning after getting warm clothes on, and then headed to Einstein's bagel shop for breakfast. I scored a hot cup of tea (Cinnamon Spice breakfast tea, which was really good with honey and lemon) and a bagel, and hung out getting warmed up with the sun streaming in through the windows. That quiet time just contemplating the world while enjoying the tea and bagel was pretty darned good.
After that, it was time for an early massage appointment, and Ron worked over my legs. The usual sore spots in the tibia muscles and calves, but basically, I'm doing a good job of taking care of my legs. I only thought about asking him to back off once, on the right calf muscle, but I got through it. Maintenance complete, the running day was done. For the day, 7.4 miles. This week will be a little lower in mileage, which is fine with me. 10-12 miler on Saturday will be nice and hilly, again, and Thursday is the usual easy 60 minute recovery run. It'll be good to have most of the Chicago folks back with us on Saturday.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Easy Running In the Sun
With the new lower afternoon temperatures, I took the opportunity to run in the sun for a change today after my gym visit. Mostly on the water tower trail behind the 'Hood, I clocked 3.4 miles, 9:02/mile pace, 31:00 and change. Just a nice little run, controlled pacing, enjoying the sun.
GymTuesday
Today's gym visit was more or less fun. 15 minutes on a cycle, but I'm pretty sure it is not totally functioning. Changing levels didn't seem to noticeably change the effort level, but I still spun away for 15 minutes just to get the legs moving. 5 or 10 minutes of stretching, and then into the core stuff. Added time to the various static plank exercises, all of them at least 2 x 1:00 in length. Leg stuff I added 10 lbs to calf raises (up to 35 lbs). Arm stuff, am now ready to move up 5 more lbs on bench next time, to 90 lbs. Increased to 90 lbs on lat pulldowns and 3o lbs on tricep extensions with a dumbbell. Still a scrawny person in comparison to the real gym rats, but I'm getting better. Thank goodness for the iPod, for taking my mind off of the occasional stresses of the gym. :-)
With the new lower afternoon temperatures, I took the opportunity to run in the sun for a change today after my gym visit. Mostly on the water tower trail behind the 'Hood, I clocked 3.4 miles, 9:02/mile pace, 31:00 and change. Just a nice little run, controlled pacing, enjoying the sun.
GymTuesday
Today's gym visit was more or less fun. 15 minutes on a cycle, but I'm pretty sure it is not totally functioning. Changing levels didn't seem to noticeably change the effort level, but I still spun away for 15 minutes just to get the legs moving. 5 or 10 minutes of stretching, and then into the core stuff. Added time to the various static plank exercises, all of them at least 2 x 1:00 in length. Leg stuff I added 10 lbs to calf raises (up to 35 lbs). Arm stuff, am now ready to move up 5 more lbs on bench next time, to 90 lbs. Increased to 90 lbs on lat pulldowns and 3o lbs on tricep extensions with a dumbbell. Still a scrawny person in comparison to the real gym rats, but I'm getting better. Thank goodness for the iPod, for taking my mind off of the occasional stresses of the gym. :-)
Monday, October 24, 2005
Meriden 1,000m HillPeats
This workout is one of my favorites, despite its lung-searing climbs at quick pace. I like the Mt. Bonnell long runs, too. And yet I fear and dislike the Wilke mountain repeats. Go figure. I believe that the Meriden 1000m hilly loops help us learn several things which are directly applicable to racing, including recovery on the run after a tough hill and shifting gears for flats, downhills and uphills. A nice compact bundle of running challenges, and we get to do them over and over. I know that for many Gazelles, this is among their least favorite workouts, but that's just what human nature is. We've all got our favorite workouts, and we all have at least one workout that is just not a happy adventure for us. C'est la vie.
To the workout, I guess. It was wonderful weather out there this morning. Crisp, clear, 49 degrees. Perfect running weather. The weather folks were correct, for a change, and it was nice. Broke out light gloves and my Distance Challenge vest for the warmup and return cooldown runs, and after getting sweaty during the repeats, that was a good idea. Kept the gloves on throughout, just for fun. We all gathered at 5:45am, and after standing around for a while, we headed out for drills and the warmup. Turns out, Gilbert has moved the start time for us back to 6:00 am except for a few longer morning workouts, TBA. Cool. An extra 15 minutes of sleep!
Drills drilled, we waited on G's arrival. He explained the loop directions for those who haven't done this workout before, told us to take the first loop easier to make sure you knew what the course was, and then he'd tell us how fast to run the rest of the loops. 5x1000m prescribed for marathoners. So, I partnered up with Brian, and we were off. It stayed totally dark throughout the workout, which made the steep downhill on the backside of the loop sort of dicey, but it worked out okay. I sort of ran how I felt, and after we finished that one up, I was surprised to see a quick 5:02 lap time. That's more or less the pace that I finished up this workout with back in September, so I was already excited. We stuck to a strict 90 seconds between repeats, walking around for "active rest," and had a nice set of laps. We took turns helping each other through the loops, and Brian was a really good pacing partner for me this morning. It's cool to start finding compatible folks for the speedwork, so that we can build pace groups for the track, etc. We did a good job of picking up the pace on the last two repeats, and we were pretty consistent on the first three. Nice. It was a "PR" for this particular workout, always cool to get.
Splits: 5:02, 4:57, 4:59, 4:50, 4:46. Average 4:50 lap for 7:41/mile pace.
After a cup of Powerade, we went right into the 150 meter uphill striders, and did 5 of those, concentrating on hill running form. Gilbert didn't have anything bad to say about my striders today, which I took as a good sign. I've been doing well on hills these last several weeks, so maybe all of his coaching is taking effect? While we were doing our last uphill strider, I was watching one of the faster guys doing one of his backwards uphill striders. I saw him drifting farther and farther to the side of the road, and I called out to him, "Car!" When he didn't react, and aimed even more towards the parked vehicle, I called out again, but he just plowed into the hood of the car, in backwards running slow motion, and sort of slid off to the side. I was laughing as much as one can while running up a hill. Funny.
After watching that, Brian and I were careful about our backwards striders, and did them just fine. It's a little like towing your car by the time you get to those backwards striders, but it's a good kind of burn in the quads and glutes. I put on my vest again, and we did a nice easy cooldown jog back to RunTex. My only wish for this workout is that the warmup and cooldown were just a bit longer. Maybe I'll use Pete's alternate cooldown loop next time, which makes for more like 2 miles of cooldown. As it is, this is a fairly short mileage day, at 5.5 miles, but it's action-packed, I suppose.
I got bundled up once we got to the cars, and stuck around for a good stretching session, working out some of the spots left from Saturday's Bonnell run and those from today's workout. It was a fun day at the running office. Richard and Marcy are in the last stages of their NYC taper, so it's cool to see how they're getting more excited about their race. Just 16 weeks for me...
This workout is one of my favorites, despite its lung-searing climbs at quick pace. I like the Mt. Bonnell long runs, too. And yet I fear and dislike the Wilke mountain repeats. Go figure. I believe that the Meriden 1000m hilly loops help us learn several things which are directly applicable to racing, including recovery on the run after a tough hill and shifting gears for flats, downhills and uphills. A nice compact bundle of running challenges, and we get to do them over and over. I know that for many Gazelles, this is among their least favorite workouts, but that's just what human nature is. We've all got our favorite workouts, and we all have at least one workout that is just not a happy adventure for us. C'est la vie.
To the workout, I guess. It was wonderful weather out there this morning. Crisp, clear, 49 degrees. Perfect running weather. The weather folks were correct, for a change, and it was nice. Broke out light gloves and my Distance Challenge vest for the warmup and return cooldown runs, and after getting sweaty during the repeats, that was a good idea. Kept the gloves on throughout, just for fun. We all gathered at 5:45am, and after standing around for a while, we headed out for drills and the warmup. Turns out, Gilbert has moved the start time for us back to 6:00 am except for a few longer morning workouts, TBA. Cool. An extra 15 minutes of sleep!
Drills drilled, we waited on G's arrival. He explained the loop directions for those who haven't done this workout before, told us to take the first loop easier to make sure you knew what the course was, and then he'd tell us how fast to run the rest of the loops. 5x1000m prescribed for marathoners. So, I partnered up with Brian, and we were off. It stayed totally dark throughout the workout, which made the steep downhill on the backside of the loop sort of dicey, but it worked out okay. I sort of ran how I felt, and after we finished that one up, I was surprised to see a quick 5:02 lap time. That's more or less the pace that I finished up this workout with back in September, so I was already excited. We stuck to a strict 90 seconds between repeats, walking around for "active rest," and had a nice set of laps. We took turns helping each other through the loops, and Brian was a really good pacing partner for me this morning. It's cool to start finding compatible folks for the speedwork, so that we can build pace groups for the track, etc. We did a good job of picking up the pace on the last two repeats, and we were pretty consistent on the first three. Nice. It was a "PR" for this particular workout, always cool to get.
Splits: 5:02, 4:57, 4:59, 4:50, 4:46. Average 4:50 lap for 7:41/mile pace.
After a cup of Powerade, we went right into the 150 meter uphill striders, and did 5 of those, concentrating on hill running form. Gilbert didn't have anything bad to say about my striders today, which I took as a good sign. I've been doing well on hills these last several weeks, so maybe all of his coaching is taking effect? While we were doing our last uphill strider, I was watching one of the faster guys doing one of his backwards uphill striders. I saw him drifting farther and farther to the side of the road, and I called out to him, "Car!" When he didn't react, and aimed even more towards the parked vehicle, I called out again, but he just plowed into the hood of the car, in backwards running slow motion, and sort of slid off to the side. I was laughing as much as one can while running up a hill. Funny.
After watching that, Brian and I were careful about our backwards striders, and did them just fine. It's a little like towing your car by the time you get to those backwards striders, but it's a good kind of burn in the quads and glutes. I put on my vest again, and we did a nice easy cooldown jog back to RunTex. My only wish for this workout is that the warmup and cooldown were just a bit longer. Maybe I'll use Pete's alternate cooldown loop next time, which makes for more like 2 miles of cooldown. As it is, this is a fairly short mileage day, at 5.5 miles, but it's action-packed, I suppose.
I got bundled up once we got to the cars, and stuck around for a good stretching session, working out some of the spots left from Saturday's Bonnell run and those from today's workout. It was a fun day at the running office. Richard and Marcy are in the last stages of their NYC taper, so it's cool to see how they're getting more excited about their race. Just 16 weeks for me...
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Long Run: Scenic, Bonnell, Bonnell again, and Back
After last weekend's race, it was time to get back to long run training for Freescale this weekend. Gilbert chose the Mt. Bonnell run again, with the added twist of going over Bonnell, down towards RR 2222, turning around at the Dry Creek Saloon (more on that later), and going up the backside of Bonnell before doing the rest of the Scenic route and going back to RunTex. It's a really hilly route (duh!), but strangely I wasn't excessively worried about it. We just do what Gilbert asks us to do, to the best of our ability, and it's obviously paying big racing dividends.
It was a nice crisp, clear morning, temps in the very low 60's. We got going pretty close to 6:00, ready to run. We're still sort of finding our groups, but I think my group is more or less settled, with Volel, Amy, Jennifer, Brian, Charlene, Bob and Shannon (when she can run on Saturdays). The aforementioned gang started forming up during the first mile, except for Shannon, who ran long yesterday, and Volel, who ran up ahead for a while with some faster folks. We had a "guest Gazelle" today, Laura from Abilene, who was in town for the weekend. It's truly flat land where she lives, so this run would be a dramatic change for her. Richard was scheduled to meet up with us at the Mopac bridge, but I guess he took off with a slightly faster group. No worries. We got Volel back at the Mopac bridge, though, so our gang was ready for the rest of the run. Easy going to the first water stop at Red Bud Trail, and after a quick GU and water, we were off again. Thus ends the flat portion of the festivities.
Splits miles 1-3.8: 10:11, 9:14, 9:12, .77 miles at 9:15 pace. Overall, 9:28/mile pace.
Entering the Scenic loop and heading to the first topping of Mt. Bonnell, we picked up the pace a little, which doesn't make sense considering the terrain, but that's what happened. Laura was anxious about going up Bonnell, but we kept telling her it would be okay. Just find a climbing gear, and hang on. All the rest had done Bonnell at least once lately, so everyone just settled down for the big climb. I was feeling pretty strong, and pushed up the Bonnell climb fairly hard. Everyone else did a good job, too, and we all met up at the Gatorade cooler at the foot of the observation area steps in short order. Laura was doing 14 miles today, so she hooked up with another group to run home. We all took a GU, I think, along with some water, and soon enough got going down the other side of Bonnell for the additional miles. So far, so good.
Splits miles 4-7: 8:50, 8:48, 8:46, .35 miles at 9:28/mile pace (actual Mt. Bonnell climb). Overall pace running down to 9:11/mile. With first water stop time included (1:52), overall pace slipped to 9:27/mile. HR numbers, except for a few short spikes on some of the hill climbs, right in the long run zone. Cool.
We rolled down the backside of Bonnell, down the steep and twisting road, headed for the Dry Creek Saloon. I've always thought it was an abandoned building, but it turns out that it's a dive of a bar, where the lady who runs it sort of opens it when she feels like it. It's one of those "Austin Things," and I'm sorry I didn't know about it. You get your next beer when you return the empty bottle from the first one to the bar (you've got to pay for them, of course). I'm told that it's not the cleanest place around, but the beer is cold, so what more do you need? We hit the flatter part of the extra piece, passed Gilbert and a bunch of other Gazelles coming the other way, and then I conned everyone into adding a tenth of a mile or so to our outward loop, to get the mileage for the day closer to 16. Surprisingly, they all accepted the "extra credit" assignment, and we turned around a while later, where the flat part ended. I think that the backside ascent of Bonnell is a tiny bit easier than the front, only in that there's a longer portion that isn't as steep. It's more fiendish, though, because with the twisting road, you can't get a clear idea of where the top of the hill is until you're pretty much on it. Again, I was feeling strong, and pushed hard to the Gatorade cooler a little ways ahead. This was a much longer water stop, but I think that's because part of the time was in waiting on everyone to gather up again and get another drink. No problem, though. The worst hills were now done, but there was still a good bit of hilly running to go. Just no more mountains.
Splits miles 8 and 9: 8:56, 8:57. Overall, pace down to 9:08. With first two water stops included, pace dropped to 9:36/mile.
We rolled down Balcones Woods, pushed up the hill on 35th Street, passing a couple of training groups on that road, and turned onto Exposition. At this point, Brian, Volel, Charlene and I formed a lead pack, and Amy, Jennifer and Bob were just behind us in their own group. I saw Pete coming "backwards" up Exposition as he did his last medium sort of run before NYC in a couple of weeks. It's always good to see him, which is less frequent than it used to be because I switched to a different weekday schedule. We were doing a fair bit of talking on Exposition, and the time passed quickly. Again, we picked up the pace a little more, and I know that Volel was glad when the last hills were done. One more Powerade stop at the O. Henry Middle School, and a GU for me, and it was time for the 3 mile "faster running" finish that Gilbert prescribed for today. After making sure that everyone had made it that far, I took off, ready to get finished. My legs were a little tired from all the hills, especially my quads, but I still felt pretty good. What kind of 3 mile push could I make?
Splits miles 10-12.4: 8:51, 8:36, 8:15, .3 miles at 8:17/mile pace. Overall, down to 8:59/mile. With first three water stops included, slowed to 9:39/mile. Not bad!
Volel quickly took a lead going the last three miles, so I settled into a steady but accelerated pace for the last piece of the run. It got crowded when we hit the trail, and I had to do a good bit of dodging around large running groups, strollers and walkers. It's their trail, too, so it wasn't an anger management situation, just another challenge for the run home. I'd draft behind a group and then would dart around them when the trail cleared enough to allow it. I can deal with that. Sooner than I thought, I was done, and it was a fine day's work at the running office. Alex and his gang were at the water coolers at the finish, along with Jan, who had just finished her 4 miler (she's a couple of weeks past Chicago, so it'll be another week or two before she returns to the regular workouts). It was good to see everyone, of course.
Splits mile 13-15.6: 7:59, 7:46, 7:54. Very solid accelerated miles at the end of a hard run, I think. I'm very pleased with this one. Overall running pace 8:45/mile. With all the water stops included, a still very strong 9:28/mile. Final distance 15.6 miles, 2:16:44 running time.
We did 5x100m striders on the grass there, and then met up with everyone else (a huge mob!) for stretching alongside RunTex. We may have to find a different location for that soon! I changed out of the wet shirt into the extremely flourescent Indy 500 Half Marathon training shirt, and got some teasing about that. Alex reports that even with his shades on, the shirt was too bright. Cool. Stretching was fun, and I really needed it after today's run.
I joked around and chatted with Pete, Alex and Tracy, and then it was time to call it a day. I had to make big changes to my drive home due to the Ride for the Roses bicycle race downtown this morning, but that was okay. I picked up the cooler from Mt. Bonnell, and a long running day was done. This was another good run on the way to Freescale, and I'm starting to gain a little confidence that I'm making good progress in my running. The weight training and better adherence to the training plan is paying off. Now, I've just got to keep it up for 4 more months. :-)
After last weekend's race, it was time to get back to long run training for Freescale this weekend. Gilbert chose the Mt. Bonnell run again, with the added twist of going over Bonnell, down towards RR 2222, turning around at the Dry Creek Saloon (more on that later), and going up the backside of Bonnell before doing the rest of the Scenic route and going back to RunTex. It's a really hilly route (duh!), but strangely I wasn't excessively worried about it. We just do what Gilbert asks us to do, to the best of our ability, and it's obviously paying big racing dividends.
It was a nice crisp, clear morning, temps in the very low 60's. We got going pretty close to 6:00, ready to run. We're still sort of finding our groups, but I think my group is more or less settled, with Volel, Amy, Jennifer, Brian, Charlene, Bob and Shannon (when she can run on Saturdays). The aforementioned gang started forming up during the first mile, except for Shannon, who ran long yesterday, and Volel, who ran up ahead for a while with some faster folks. We had a "guest Gazelle" today, Laura from Abilene, who was in town for the weekend. It's truly flat land where she lives, so this run would be a dramatic change for her. Richard was scheduled to meet up with us at the Mopac bridge, but I guess he took off with a slightly faster group. No worries. We got Volel back at the Mopac bridge, though, so our gang was ready for the rest of the run. Easy going to the first water stop at Red Bud Trail, and after a quick GU and water, we were off again. Thus ends the flat portion of the festivities.
Splits miles 1-3.8: 10:11, 9:14, 9:12, .77 miles at 9:15 pace. Overall, 9:28/mile pace.
Entering the Scenic loop and heading to the first topping of Mt. Bonnell, we picked up the pace a little, which doesn't make sense considering the terrain, but that's what happened. Laura was anxious about going up Bonnell, but we kept telling her it would be okay. Just find a climbing gear, and hang on. All the rest had done Bonnell at least once lately, so everyone just settled down for the big climb. I was feeling pretty strong, and pushed up the Bonnell climb fairly hard. Everyone else did a good job, too, and we all met up at the Gatorade cooler at the foot of the observation area steps in short order. Laura was doing 14 miles today, so she hooked up with another group to run home. We all took a GU, I think, along with some water, and soon enough got going down the other side of Bonnell for the additional miles. So far, so good.
Splits miles 4-7: 8:50, 8:48, 8:46, .35 miles at 9:28/mile pace (actual Mt. Bonnell climb). Overall pace running down to 9:11/mile. With first water stop time included (1:52), overall pace slipped to 9:27/mile. HR numbers, except for a few short spikes on some of the hill climbs, right in the long run zone. Cool.
We rolled down the backside of Bonnell, down the steep and twisting road, headed for the Dry Creek Saloon. I've always thought it was an abandoned building, but it turns out that it's a dive of a bar, where the lady who runs it sort of opens it when she feels like it. It's one of those "Austin Things," and I'm sorry I didn't know about it. You get your next beer when you return the empty bottle from the first one to the bar (you've got to pay for them, of course). I'm told that it's not the cleanest place around, but the beer is cold, so what more do you need? We hit the flatter part of the extra piece, passed Gilbert and a bunch of other Gazelles coming the other way, and then I conned everyone into adding a tenth of a mile or so to our outward loop, to get the mileage for the day closer to 16. Surprisingly, they all accepted the "extra credit" assignment, and we turned around a while later, where the flat part ended. I think that the backside ascent of Bonnell is a tiny bit easier than the front, only in that there's a longer portion that isn't as steep. It's more fiendish, though, because with the twisting road, you can't get a clear idea of where the top of the hill is until you're pretty much on it. Again, I was feeling strong, and pushed hard to the Gatorade cooler a little ways ahead. This was a much longer water stop, but I think that's because part of the time was in waiting on everyone to gather up again and get another drink. No problem, though. The worst hills were now done, but there was still a good bit of hilly running to go. Just no more mountains.
Splits miles 8 and 9: 8:56, 8:57. Overall, pace down to 9:08. With first two water stops included, pace dropped to 9:36/mile.
We rolled down Balcones Woods, pushed up the hill on 35th Street, passing a couple of training groups on that road, and turned onto Exposition. At this point, Brian, Volel, Charlene and I formed a lead pack, and Amy, Jennifer and Bob were just behind us in their own group. I saw Pete coming "backwards" up Exposition as he did his last medium sort of run before NYC in a couple of weeks. It's always good to see him, which is less frequent than it used to be because I switched to a different weekday schedule. We were doing a fair bit of talking on Exposition, and the time passed quickly. Again, we picked up the pace a little more, and I know that Volel was glad when the last hills were done. One more Powerade stop at the O. Henry Middle School, and a GU for me, and it was time for the 3 mile "faster running" finish that Gilbert prescribed for today. After making sure that everyone had made it that far, I took off, ready to get finished. My legs were a little tired from all the hills, especially my quads, but I still felt pretty good. What kind of 3 mile push could I make?
Splits miles 10-12.4: 8:51, 8:36, 8:15, .3 miles at 8:17/mile pace. Overall, down to 8:59/mile. With first three water stops included, slowed to 9:39/mile. Not bad!
Volel quickly took a lead going the last three miles, so I settled into a steady but accelerated pace for the last piece of the run. It got crowded when we hit the trail, and I had to do a good bit of dodging around large running groups, strollers and walkers. It's their trail, too, so it wasn't an anger management situation, just another challenge for the run home. I'd draft behind a group and then would dart around them when the trail cleared enough to allow it. I can deal with that. Sooner than I thought, I was done, and it was a fine day's work at the running office. Alex and his gang were at the water coolers at the finish, along with Jan, who had just finished her 4 miler (she's a couple of weeks past Chicago, so it'll be another week or two before she returns to the regular workouts). It was good to see everyone, of course.
Splits mile 13-15.6: 7:59, 7:46, 7:54. Very solid accelerated miles at the end of a hard run, I think. I'm very pleased with this one. Overall running pace 8:45/mile. With all the water stops included, a still very strong 9:28/mile. Final distance 15.6 miles, 2:16:44 running time.
We did 5x100m striders on the grass there, and then met up with everyone else (a huge mob!) for stretching alongside RunTex. We may have to find a different location for that soon! I changed out of the wet shirt into the extremely flourescent Indy 500 Half Marathon training shirt, and got some teasing about that. Alex reports that even with his shades on, the shirt was too bright. Cool. Stretching was fun, and I really needed it after today's run.
I joked around and chatted with Pete, Alex and Tracy, and then it was time to call it a day. I had to make big changes to my drive home due to the Ride for the Roses bicycle race downtown this morning, but that was okay. I picked up the cooler from Mt. Bonnell, and a long running day was done. This was another good run on the way to Freescale, and I'm starting to gain a little confidence that I'm making good progress in my running. The weight training and better adherence to the training plan is paying off. Now, I've just got to keep it up for 4 more months. :-)
Friday, October 21, 2005
D'Gymbe
Friday's gym visit was typical. 20 minutes warmup on the cycle, then the standard workout. Took the time today to get in 15 minutes of stretching after the cycle, which helped a lot. I've been feeling a little beaten up, and the stretch was a good thing. Long core workout, then legs and upper body. Didn't step up on any of the exercises today, but on Tuesday I'll be moving up on a few, having reached the 2x12 or 2x15 stage for consecutive workouts with a couple of the exercises. That's when I move the weight up one click. I won't bore you too much with the iPod details, but I did get both John Lennon and Paul McCartney's solo works represented, an evenhanded approach. After the workout, it was time to get rested for tomorrow's hilly long run. Lots of fluids, and I'm looking forward to this one, I think. I sure hope we don't do the even longer version of tomorrow's route in a couple of weeks for 18 miles!
Friday's gym visit was typical. 20 minutes warmup on the cycle, then the standard workout. Took the time today to get in 15 minutes of stretching after the cycle, which helped a lot. I've been feeling a little beaten up, and the stretch was a good thing. Long core workout, then legs and upper body. Didn't step up on any of the exercises today, but on Tuesday I'll be moving up on a few, having reached the 2x12 or 2x15 stage for consecutive workouts with a couple of the exercises. That's when I move the weight up one click. I won't bore you too much with the iPod details, but I did get both John Lennon and Paul McCartney's solo works represented, an evenhanded approach. After the workout, it was time to get rested for tomorrow's hilly long run. Lots of fluids, and I'm looking forward to this one, I think. I sure hope we don't do the even longer version of tomorrow's route in a couple of weeks for 18 miles!
Thursday, October 20, 2005
The Last Warm Run?
Tonight, I got out for the one hour recovery run. It was warmer than it's been in a while, but still way better than it was just a few weeks ago. Small favors, and all that...a couple of blasts of cold air are due any time now, so Saturday's run should be in ideal conditions. 7:30pm start time tonight. Some trail, some 'Hood, ended up with 6.5 miles, 1:00:32, 9:20/mile pace. Legs a little heavy feeling, but the run was just fine. Did 2x100m striders afterwards and several minutes of Gilbert's stepping and balancing drills, too. Nothing too exciting, really.
I did find myself pondering the relative differences between solo running and group running while I was out there tonight. I came to the conclusion that they both offer something to the runner, at least to me, but I can't say that I'm way more interested in one or the other. Solo runs are a good time to look inward, or to look nowhere at all, intellectually speaking, and letting the emotional and personal batteries recharge. Group runs, even with just one other runner, are more social, naturally, and even when they are hard speedwork, the presence of those other fellow runners makes the work go by more easily. It is very hard to do hard running by myself, now that I've grown so accustomed to training with the Gazelles. I could do moderately long runs by myself, and I've done speedy stuff while on vacation, out of necessity, but I greatly prefer the company of others when going long or fast. Recovery running is nice to do alone, because the pace lends itself to internal conversation. No, I don't hear voices... :-) Anyway, that's what I thought about tonight in the starlight, alone with my footsteps (and an iPod loaded with 1700 songs).
Tonight, I got out for the one hour recovery run. It was warmer than it's been in a while, but still way better than it was just a few weeks ago. Small favors, and all that...a couple of blasts of cold air are due any time now, so Saturday's run should be in ideal conditions. 7:30pm start time tonight. Some trail, some 'Hood, ended up with 6.5 miles, 1:00:32, 9:20/mile pace. Legs a little heavy feeling, but the run was just fine. Did 2x100m striders afterwards and several minutes of Gilbert's stepping and balancing drills, too. Nothing too exciting, really.
I did find myself pondering the relative differences between solo running and group running while I was out there tonight. I came to the conclusion that they both offer something to the runner, at least to me, but I can't say that I'm way more interested in one or the other. Solo runs are a good time to look inward, or to look nowhere at all, intellectually speaking, and letting the emotional and personal batteries recharge. Group runs, even with just one other runner, are more social, naturally, and even when they are hard speedwork, the presence of those other fellow runners makes the work go by more easily. It is very hard to do hard running by myself, now that I've grown so accustomed to training with the Gazelles. I could do moderately long runs by myself, and I've done speedy stuff while on vacation, out of necessity, but I greatly prefer the company of others when going long or fast. Recovery running is nice to do alone, because the pace lends itself to internal conversation. No, I don't hear voices... :-) Anyway, that's what I thought about tonight in the starlight, alone with my footsteps (and an iPod loaded with 1700 songs).
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Tempo Run
This morning was another good one for running. Nice and clear, full moon (and Mars) shining in the morning sky, and temps in the low 60's. We all got there at 5:45 as usual, but we apparently didn't get the "memo" that we'd be starting at 6:00 this morning, since it was a shorter workout. I was feeling tired on the way down to RunTex, so I wasn't at all sure that I'd be worth much on the scheduled tempo run, but I figured I'd do it anyway, and see how I felt. I called Gilbert to make sure we weren't in the wrong place or something, and he told us to get going on the warmup, and he'd meet us at the start line for the tempo run.
A nice easy 1.2 miles later, we were warmer, and then after some standing around, we finally got into the drills. I chatted with Richard while we warmed up, along with Bryan and a couple of other folks. There was significant discussion of Pervasive, of course. By the time we were half done with drills, Gilbert had materialized, clipboard in hand, for the Big Event. I saw Jan there about that time, and had a short talk with her (she was out for an easy run with the dog) as Gilbert told the new peeps about the tempo run. A few seconds later, and we were off on the trail, still really dark, but it was time to run.
The crowd went out quickly, and I was near the back as we got going. I was going to do this whole thing as a "run how you feel" deal, and soon found myself slowly catching and passing folks ahead of me. I tried not to overdo it early, because I still wasn't sure how much I was recovered from Pervasive, but kept up an honest pace. It was tricky on the really dark trail, but I kept passing folks, both Gazelles and not, and by the one mile mark, I had done a respectable 7:57 opening split. When I did my "PR" for this workout a month ago, I think my first mile was something like that. I moved on.
The second mile has some tricky bits with footing, but I got through all that, and rolled to the turnaround. I saw Richard ahead of me by a relatively short distance, along with a bunch of other Gazelles sort of packed up ahead. Good job on mile two: 7:27. My halfway split was 15:24, so I had a chance at the 30:03 PR if I held it together in the second half. Could I negative split?
I kept pressing during mile three, and eased up on Rich, a fellow Gazelle, as we carefully negotiated the sometimes slippery corner at Point Neff, and I stayed right on his shoulder as we crossed the footbridge at the three mile mark. Now I had someone to chase, and I dipped into my bag of mental running tricks, and lassoed Rich with an imaginary elastic band to pull me along. Mile three split: 7:12. I was pretty sure I was going to break 30:03, but I didn't have the capacity to work out my exact situation while I was chasing Rich.
The last mile was at a hard clip. There was more foot traffic on the trail by now, and we had to do some weaving around large groups of walkers, but I don't think that slowed us much. I was thinking that maybe Rich had gone out too hard, and I pushed up the little incline at the half mile mark, but he still had enough to stay just ahead of me there. Darn. I pulled up alongside him as we turned into Auditorium Shores, and he jokingly put his arm out to hold me back. Turns out, he had another gear left, and he threw down for a 40 yard push, which gave him a 10 yard gap on me that I couldn't close. I tried to keep that gap consistent, and we blasted down the finishing straight to the finish line, running hard. It was a great finish, and my mile four split was 7:18. Overall, I finally broke 30:00, with a 29:54 finishing time, a 9 second improvement over my previous best from a month ago. Average pace 7:29/mile. Second half was 14:30, a good negative split, too.
It was a terrific run, as it turns out, and I was very pleasantly surprised that I could perform this well so soon after the Pervasive race. It was hard work, but all the same, it was a lot faster than it felt to me, if that makes any sense. My HR numbers were actually better than for the previous PR tempo run, too, which I'll ascribe largely to the better weather this morning.
We did the prescribed 6x100m strides, and it was a done deal. Jan was done with her easy run by then, so we chatted a bit about her Chicago marathon and her plan for recovery and return to Freescale training. By now, the sun was finally creeping up on the horizon, so we could all at least see each other. :-)
A few minutes of discussion with Gilbert about Saturday's logistics for the Mt. Bonnell (and more) 16 miler, and it was time to get home. I did do a little stretching just for effect. For the day, 6 miles of running.
Thursday is an easy one hour run, then the gym on Friday and 16 miles on Saturday. All of a sudden, the long runs are starting to look like long runs. Once the distance creeps over 15, you have to start paying more attention to them. At least another cool front is on its way, so we may have temps in the 50's for Saturday morning!!
This morning was another good one for running. Nice and clear, full moon (and Mars) shining in the morning sky, and temps in the low 60's. We all got there at 5:45 as usual, but we apparently didn't get the "memo" that we'd be starting at 6:00 this morning, since it was a shorter workout. I was feeling tired on the way down to RunTex, so I wasn't at all sure that I'd be worth much on the scheduled tempo run, but I figured I'd do it anyway, and see how I felt. I called Gilbert to make sure we weren't in the wrong place or something, and he told us to get going on the warmup, and he'd meet us at the start line for the tempo run.
A nice easy 1.2 miles later, we were warmer, and then after some standing around, we finally got into the drills. I chatted with Richard while we warmed up, along with Bryan and a couple of other folks. There was significant discussion of Pervasive, of course. By the time we were half done with drills, Gilbert had materialized, clipboard in hand, for the Big Event. I saw Jan there about that time, and had a short talk with her (she was out for an easy run with the dog) as Gilbert told the new peeps about the tempo run. A few seconds later, and we were off on the trail, still really dark, but it was time to run.
The crowd went out quickly, and I was near the back as we got going. I was going to do this whole thing as a "run how you feel" deal, and soon found myself slowly catching and passing folks ahead of me. I tried not to overdo it early, because I still wasn't sure how much I was recovered from Pervasive, but kept up an honest pace. It was tricky on the really dark trail, but I kept passing folks, both Gazelles and not, and by the one mile mark, I had done a respectable 7:57 opening split. When I did my "PR" for this workout a month ago, I think my first mile was something like that. I moved on.
The second mile has some tricky bits with footing, but I got through all that, and rolled to the turnaround. I saw Richard ahead of me by a relatively short distance, along with a bunch of other Gazelles sort of packed up ahead. Good job on mile two: 7:27. My halfway split was 15:24, so I had a chance at the 30:03 PR if I held it together in the second half. Could I negative split?
I kept pressing during mile three, and eased up on Rich, a fellow Gazelle, as we carefully negotiated the sometimes slippery corner at Point Neff, and I stayed right on his shoulder as we crossed the footbridge at the three mile mark. Now I had someone to chase, and I dipped into my bag of mental running tricks, and lassoed Rich with an imaginary elastic band to pull me along. Mile three split: 7:12. I was pretty sure I was going to break 30:03, but I didn't have the capacity to work out my exact situation while I was chasing Rich.
The last mile was at a hard clip. There was more foot traffic on the trail by now, and we had to do some weaving around large groups of walkers, but I don't think that slowed us much. I was thinking that maybe Rich had gone out too hard, and I pushed up the little incline at the half mile mark, but he still had enough to stay just ahead of me there. Darn. I pulled up alongside him as we turned into Auditorium Shores, and he jokingly put his arm out to hold me back. Turns out, he had another gear left, and he threw down for a 40 yard push, which gave him a 10 yard gap on me that I couldn't close. I tried to keep that gap consistent, and we blasted down the finishing straight to the finish line, running hard. It was a great finish, and my mile four split was 7:18. Overall, I finally broke 30:00, with a 29:54 finishing time, a 9 second improvement over my previous best from a month ago. Average pace 7:29/mile. Second half was 14:30, a good negative split, too.
It was a terrific run, as it turns out, and I was very pleasantly surprised that I could perform this well so soon after the Pervasive race. It was hard work, but all the same, it was a lot faster than it felt to me, if that makes any sense. My HR numbers were actually better than for the previous PR tempo run, too, which I'll ascribe largely to the better weather this morning.
We did the prescribed 6x100m strides, and it was a done deal. Jan was done with her easy run by then, so we chatted a bit about her Chicago marathon and her plan for recovery and return to Freescale training. By now, the sun was finally creeping up on the horizon, so we could all at least see each other. :-)
A few minutes of discussion with Gilbert about Saturday's logistics for the Mt. Bonnell (and more) 16 miler, and it was time to get home. I did do a little stretching just for effect. For the day, 6 miles of running.
Thursday is an easy one hour run, then the gym on Friday and 16 miles on Saturday. All of a sudden, the long runs are starting to look like long runs. Once the distance creeps over 15, you have to start paying more attention to them. At least another cool front is on its way, so we may have temps in the 50's for Saturday morning!!
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Sudoku!
If you haven't tried or seen these nifty little puzzles in your newspaper, check them out online at the free website, www.websudoku.com (lots of other Sudoku sites, too, but this one is free and you can print out a zillion free puzzles to work). They are addictive and challenging (at least the Medium to Evil versions are). Like they say on TV poker broadcasts, "It takes a few minutes to learn, and a lifetime to master."
I give these a big thumbs up. But, as a geek/nerd warning, let it be known that I've stopped doing the weekday crossword puzzles in the paper because I think they're too easy. That's a true geeky thought there, my friends! I limit myself to one Sudoku puzzle a day, to ration my habit, which is pretty sad, too. :-)
Anyway, if you like puzzles, try these. They're fun! Now, we will return to the mundane world of reporting on running...
If you haven't tried or seen these nifty little puzzles in your newspaper, check them out online at the free website, www.websudoku.com (lots of other Sudoku sites, too, but this one is free and you can print out a zillion free puzzles to work). They are addictive and challenging (at least the Medium to Evil versions are). Like they say on TV poker broadcasts, "It takes a few minutes to learn, and a lifetime to master."
I give these a big thumbs up. But, as a geek/nerd warning, let it be known that I've stopped doing the weekday crossword puzzles in the paper because I think they're too easy. That's a true geeky thought there, my friends! I limit myself to one Sudoku puzzle a day, to ration my habit, which is pretty sad, too. :-)
Anyway, if you like puzzles, try these. They're fun! Now, we will return to the mundane world of reporting on running...
Gym-min'
This afternoon was a nice focused workout at Gold's. Started with 15:00 on the bike, to get things started. Legs were slightly heavy feeling, but okay. Core stuff all went like clockwork, still just over half the workout. Light leg exercises finished the job of helping them recover from Sunday. Upper body exercises were a complete set, for a change. Except for noticing that a guy next to me was doing bicep curls with 100 lb. weights as compared to my 50 lbs., it wasn't a bad day at the gym. I bet I could outrun him, though. :-)
May or may not do the easy 30-40 minute recovery run this evening...I'll have to decide that later.
This afternoon was a nice focused workout at Gold's. Started with 15:00 on the bike, to get things started. Legs were slightly heavy feeling, but okay. Core stuff all went like clockwork, still just over half the workout. Light leg exercises finished the job of helping them recover from Sunday. Upper body exercises were a complete set, for a change. Except for noticing that a guy next to me was doing bicep curls with 100 lb. weights as compared to my 50 lbs., it wasn't a bad day at the gym. I bet I could outrun him, though. :-)
May or may not do the easy 30-40 minute recovery run this evening...I'll have to decide that later.
Monday, October 17, 2005
It's Monday, and The Runnin' Is Easy...
As usual, the day after a race is easy recovery running. Gilbert prescribed between 5 and 7 miles, depending on how easy you ran it. I couldn't go this morning to run with my fellow Gazelles due to family considerations, so I ran this evening instead, after a full day of walking around and daily activity. Legs felt fine all day, but I took a few minutes here and there as the day wore on to do some gentle stretching, just in case.
At dusk, about 7:00 pm, I took off in the 'Hood for an easy 45-60 minutes, depending on pace and how I felt. Some trail running to the water tower and back, and the rest on the streets. I added a little bit at the end of one of the loops, because I was feeling really easy and comfortable, and ended up with 5.75 miles at 9:17/mile pace. HR numbers good and in the easy zone, so this was a mission accomplished type deal.
After the run, I did some of Gilbert's balance drills to further loosen up my legs and hips, and then did some baby strides in my yard to complete the process. It was a reassuring workout after yesterday's hard work, and nice to see that my legs weren't burnt out as a result of Pervasive's hilly terrain.
Tomorrow is a short easy run and the gym, and then a tempo run is scheduled for Wednesday.
As usual, the day after a race is easy recovery running. Gilbert prescribed between 5 and 7 miles, depending on how easy you ran it. I couldn't go this morning to run with my fellow Gazelles due to family considerations, so I ran this evening instead, after a full day of walking around and daily activity. Legs felt fine all day, but I took a few minutes here and there as the day wore on to do some gentle stretching, just in case.
At dusk, about 7:00 pm, I took off in the 'Hood for an easy 45-60 minutes, depending on pace and how I felt. Some trail running to the water tower and back, and the rest on the streets. I added a little bit at the end of one of the loops, because I was feeling really easy and comfortable, and ended up with 5.75 miles at 9:17/mile pace. HR numbers good and in the easy zone, so this was a mission accomplished type deal.
After the run, I did some of Gilbert's balance drills to further loosen up my legs and hips, and then did some baby strides in my yard to complete the process. It was a reassuring workout after yesterday's hard work, and nice to see that my legs weren't burnt out as a result of Pervasive's hilly terrain.
Tomorrow is a short easy run and the gym, and then a tempo run is scheduled for Wednesday.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
PERVASIVE 10 MILER
Goals for this morning's 10 mile hilly test were: (1) 1:28:31, my 10 mile PR set last year at this race, (2) 1:25:41 (8:34 pace), my "predicted" result for 10 miles based on my 3:59:59 Freescale goal time, which is admittedly a soft marathon goal right now, and (3) crazy goal of 8:15 pace, or 1:22:30, which matches more my 10K time on the predictor tables. On this course, all this goal setting is sort of silly, but it would be cool to get one of those today. Race plan was to go out relaxed at something like 8:30 pace, get up Scotland Wells without going totally into oxygen debt, take advantage of the downhills in the hilly section, and then "Go!" once the course levels out just past the 6.5 mile mark, hoping for fast miles coming home.
We got the gift of nice cool weather for this year's running at Pervasive, which was a big bonus. Last year was a nightmare in that regard, and it was great to not have to worry about outside conditions for a change. The Gazelles met up at the start line for our warmup at 6:30am, after the most serpentine drive to a parking area that I've encountered. It got really funny really fast making these snaking turns as we toured around the Pervasive complex, but I got my favored spot near the tennis courts nonetheless. I used the race shirt as an overshirt for the warmup jog, since it was pretty cool (low 60's?), and we took off at a really easy pace with Gilbert. Covered something like 1.6 miles, mainly so we could run both the first and last pieces of the course and pick out landmarks. Once we did the drills and a few really short striders, we had a nice warmup going. A little stretching as a group, and some last words from Gilbert, and we were off to our separate corners to get pumped up. G's advice mainly centered around the fact that this is such an extreme course, that we shouldn't get hung up on our times if we happen to be a little slower than we would like.
Alex had temporarily forgotten where he had parked his car, so he dropped his warmup gear at my truck, and we both took advantage of the fine landscape screening around the tennis courts for a last hydration adjustment. (I know, we're bad, but hey...). I settled in with Amy and Shannon and Jennifer, and took a GU about 15 minutes prior to the start of the race. About half a bottle of water with that, and I was ready to run. Nervous, but ready. I think the same lady from last year sang the Anthem, good job again, and mercifully without too many words from the sponsors, etc., the horn went off promptly on time at 7:30. We had lined up fairly far back, and it took about 2 minutes to get to the start line, but that was just fine. And we were off!
I immediately lost Amy and Shannon, as they darted ahead through the foot traffic. I figured I'd catch them on Scotland Wells on the big hill if everything went right. The first mile is gently uphill, which is deceptive. I just worked my way through the crowds, trying not to burn too much extra energy darting around, picking my open spots and pushing through them. Saw a bunch of old running acquaintances as I worked forward, never to see them again. [Ed. Note: Foreshadowing]. I went ahead and put on the Terminator shades, since it was easier to wear them that way than on top of my head. I also saw the tallest guy I've ever seen in a footrace. I'm not short at 6 feet tall, but this guy was easily a 7 footer, perhaps taller. That's a lot of stress on a pair of running shoes!
Turned into the Motive office park, and after another couple of turns, hit the first mile marker in a fairly slow split. No worries. I was up to speed by now, with clear running ahead. Next 3 miles were uneventful, moderate to flat terrain, with a big two-stage downhill during mile 4 to the bottom where Scotland Wells turned back up. I skipped the first water stop, and took a cup at mile 3, along with half of my Enervitene. Passed the Guv on the long downhill, and I heard his bodyguards say "Here it comes!" as we saw the turn for Scotland Wells. Now the race would really begin. I paced myself early by trying to run fairly relaxed, but quick, keeping my HR to a solid number. So far, so good. I felt great!
Splits miles 1-4: 9:19, 8:13, 8:10, 7:55 (big downhill mile there). Avg pace so far: 8:24, right on schedule.
Making the turn for Scotland Wells, after having looked at it while doing the downhill, is a psychological experiment crafted by some demented researcher. However, we had no choice but to take it on, if we chose to finish the race at all. The half mile or so of Scotland Wells was thick with spectators, who all hoped to see barfing and angst, sort of like they were at a NASCAR race and wanted just to see the wrecks. I shifted into a hill gear, and started chugging up it, Wilke style. The whole climb turned surreal, with my steady progress up the hill taking me past dozens of runners. You'd see people run, then jog, then shuffle, and then finally break and go into a full walk, some with hands on knees to push themselves up. Sort of like in the Tour de France, when the domestiques would go all out for their team leader, and once they ran out of gas, they'd just fall by the wayside, like spent booster rockets. It was a lot like that today. Anyway, I was somewhere on the way up, seriously thinking about following the example of those around me and starting a walk, when Carrie yelled from the side of the road, "Go Jay!" Dammit. Now, I had to keep running at least long enough to get out of her line of sight! So, I trundled on, lungs starting to scream a little. Sufficiently past her now, I again thought about walking the last 50 yards or so up the steep initial portion of the climb. But, just when I was forming the thought, I saw Jason on the near side of the road, and he yelled encouraging words to me. Now, it was all over, I had to run the whole darned thing, so I gutted it out and finished the hill in good style. Thanks, Jason and Carrie! I truly wouldn't have done so well there without your help! Now on the false "flat," which was still a steady incline, just a tad flatter, I found a faster rhythm, while trying to recover a little on that stretch. Surprisingly, I think I was able to do that. Kept passing folks, and finally, the torment was over, and we turned left towards the Mile 5 timing mat and water station. The relief was palpable.
I gave Larry a "low five" at the timing mat, took some water and the rest of my Enervitene at the water station there, and turned right to go up the nasty little hill that was there. Did well on that one...after Scotland Wells, the other hills didn't seem quite so awful. Cresting that hill, I protected my quads as much as I could going down the long downhill that followed, trying to remember the Gilbert-approved technique for downhill running. I was in a good frame of mind now, feeling pretty good, and I tried to take advantage of the easier pieces of this tough section. We crossed over and dropped down to a low water crossing, where the mile 6 marker was, and then climbed out of that. These smaller hills were taking a toll on those around me, too. Bad early pacing was really catching up with a lot of folks. During mile 7, I finally saw Shannon ahead of me, and so started stalking her for a possible running pass. I didn't see Amy, so she was still ahead, too. As we started the last tough hill, a double hill with a long shallow start and a nasty steep finish, I told a guy who looked like he was in trouble that it was truly the last hill. I think it helped him a little. Anyway, up that last hill, and in the words of Gilbert, it was theoretically time to "Go!" I got my rhythm back, and continued my chase of Shannon as the course flattened out. Took Gatorade at the mile 7 water station, and was off. The worst was over, and all I had to do now was pick up the pace. :-)
Mile splits 5-7: 8:38, 8:19, 8:22. Very good running in this tough section. Overall pace now 8:25. Time to go.
Mile 8 was where I bonked last year, waiting for my GU to kick in, so I was determined to make amends for that this year. I found a good rhythm on the flatter terrain (some slight inclines, but nothing severe), and soon caught up with Shannon. We had a brief conversation, and she finally told me to have a good race, so I pushed, thinking I would be moving away from her. Surprisingly, she changed her mind, and just hooked up with me, and we ran together until the middle of mile 9. That probably helped me keep moving faster. I could see Amy ahead of us, in her Texas shorts, but the gap seemed to stay at a steady 50-100 yards. I hoped I could catch her, but I was starting to doubt myself. Shannon and I passed Bryan on Jollyville Road, and my main thought was how long we had to run on this straightaway. Shannon finally said to me that I was starting to arch my back and run leaning backwards, and I appreciate that. I fixed that problem, and immediately started feeling better, and sped up for the rest of the race. Now in a good hard finishing gear, I turned onto Oak Knoll, and cranked it up for the homestretch.
Passing the 9 mile marker, I skipped that water stop, concentrating on momentum and speed. Suddenly, it seems, I found myself about 20 yards behind Amy. She was moving well, but I slowly gained on her as we zigzagged through the Motive business park again. Gilbert was running backwards on the course there, and yelled at us to run hard, and then he was gone. Now on the finishing straight, I finally caught Amy with maybe a half mile to go. She looked at me and said, "Don't do this to me again!," because I've caught her late at a bunch of races in the spring. We were running hard, so I told her to get going, and we'd run it in together. Later, of course, we both admitted that we'd have run slower if we hadn't seen each other, but this time, we were constantly picking it up all the way home. I was in serious focus mode now, straining my vision to see where the turn into the parking lot for the finish line was. We used the gentle downhill for all it was worth, and once we got to the turn, it was really sharp to the right. Amy cut the inside corner, and I was stuck going around to the left to get around a guy in the middle of the road. Giving it all I had, I chased Amy to the finish, but she got me by less than a second, beating me fair and square. I knew I had run a great race, but I was stunned to see my final time. What was it, you say?
Mile splits 8-10: 8:15, 7:30, 7:18! I don't think I ran any miles as fast as that in the 10K a few weeks ago! Overall time 1:21:59, pace 8:12/mile. I had destroyed my course PR and Masters PR by 6:32. It was a fabulous race, and I'm mostly proud of how consistent my pacing was and how strong I was late in the race. I think I've exorcised the various demons that had gotten me at this race in the past.
We took water, and caught our breath as we waited (not long) for Shannon and Bryan to finish right behind us. Alex soon showed up, with Gretchen and Liliana and Richard, and we all set out on a really slow recovery jog around the complex. Gretchen and Liliana ran while holding their granola and yogurt bowls, which gives you some idea of the very easy recovery pace that we established. Alex got under 7:00/mile pace, so he smoked the race, and Richard had a good day, too, blowing away his PR from last year. That recovery running sure felt good, and we were happy people.
I peeled off to get a dry and clean shirt at my truck, along with Endurox, and that was wonderful. Just having fresh clothes to put on after running like that is a nice thing. I chatted with Marcy, who was doing strides in the parking lot, and then headed to the post-race festivities for some food. Got Powerade, water, a banana, Girl Scout cookies and a Clif Bar, and I was all set! I drank all the fluids, ate the banana, and saved the cookies and Clif Bar for later.
Patrick was there with his dog, and it was nice of him to show up bright and early to be a spectator! The post-race conversations were fun and varied, as we all came down off our running highs. The sun felt great as we simply enjoyed the feeling of a race well run. Alex had a sausage wrap, I think, but declined my offer of my bib tag for a second helping. I wasn't interested in food that complicated quite so soon.
Anyway, a great race, and now it's time to spend 5 weeks or so purely on training, as the next Distance Challenge race is on 11/20, the Motive Half marathon, featuring another very long hill climb.
For the week, just over 40 miles running, two gym workouts, 37 minutes of cycling. I'm a happy but tired guy. Gilbert told us that 5 easy miles would be plenty tomorrow for a recovery run, so that's what I'll aspire to, here in the 'Hood.
Goals for this morning's 10 mile hilly test were: (1) 1:28:31, my 10 mile PR set last year at this race, (2) 1:25:41 (8:34 pace), my "predicted" result for 10 miles based on my 3:59:59 Freescale goal time, which is admittedly a soft marathon goal right now, and (3) crazy goal of 8:15 pace, or 1:22:30, which matches more my 10K time on the predictor tables. On this course, all this goal setting is sort of silly, but it would be cool to get one of those today. Race plan was to go out relaxed at something like 8:30 pace, get up Scotland Wells without going totally into oxygen debt, take advantage of the downhills in the hilly section, and then "Go!" once the course levels out just past the 6.5 mile mark, hoping for fast miles coming home.
We got the gift of nice cool weather for this year's running at Pervasive, which was a big bonus. Last year was a nightmare in that regard, and it was great to not have to worry about outside conditions for a change. The Gazelles met up at the start line for our warmup at 6:30am, after the most serpentine drive to a parking area that I've encountered. It got really funny really fast making these snaking turns as we toured around the Pervasive complex, but I got my favored spot near the tennis courts nonetheless. I used the race shirt as an overshirt for the warmup jog, since it was pretty cool (low 60's?), and we took off at a really easy pace with Gilbert. Covered something like 1.6 miles, mainly so we could run both the first and last pieces of the course and pick out landmarks. Once we did the drills and a few really short striders, we had a nice warmup going. A little stretching as a group, and some last words from Gilbert, and we were off to our separate corners to get pumped up. G's advice mainly centered around the fact that this is such an extreme course, that we shouldn't get hung up on our times if we happen to be a little slower than we would like.
Alex had temporarily forgotten where he had parked his car, so he dropped his warmup gear at my truck, and we both took advantage of the fine landscape screening around the tennis courts for a last hydration adjustment. (I know, we're bad, but hey...). I settled in with Amy and Shannon and Jennifer, and took a GU about 15 minutes prior to the start of the race. About half a bottle of water with that, and I was ready to run. Nervous, but ready. I think the same lady from last year sang the Anthem, good job again, and mercifully without too many words from the sponsors, etc., the horn went off promptly on time at 7:30. We had lined up fairly far back, and it took about 2 minutes to get to the start line, but that was just fine. And we were off!
I immediately lost Amy and Shannon, as they darted ahead through the foot traffic. I figured I'd catch them on Scotland Wells on the big hill if everything went right. The first mile is gently uphill, which is deceptive. I just worked my way through the crowds, trying not to burn too much extra energy darting around, picking my open spots and pushing through them. Saw a bunch of old running acquaintances as I worked forward, never to see them again. [Ed. Note: Foreshadowing]. I went ahead and put on the Terminator shades, since it was easier to wear them that way than on top of my head. I also saw the tallest guy I've ever seen in a footrace. I'm not short at 6 feet tall, but this guy was easily a 7 footer, perhaps taller. That's a lot of stress on a pair of running shoes!
Turned into the Motive office park, and after another couple of turns, hit the first mile marker in a fairly slow split. No worries. I was up to speed by now, with clear running ahead. Next 3 miles were uneventful, moderate to flat terrain, with a big two-stage downhill during mile 4 to the bottom where Scotland Wells turned back up. I skipped the first water stop, and took a cup at mile 3, along with half of my Enervitene. Passed the Guv on the long downhill, and I heard his bodyguards say "Here it comes!" as we saw the turn for Scotland Wells. Now the race would really begin. I paced myself early by trying to run fairly relaxed, but quick, keeping my HR to a solid number. So far, so good. I felt great!
Splits miles 1-4: 9:19, 8:13, 8:10, 7:55 (big downhill mile there). Avg pace so far: 8:24, right on schedule.
Making the turn for Scotland Wells, after having looked at it while doing the downhill, is a psychological experiment crafted by some demented researcher. However, we had no choice but to take it on, if we chose to finish the race at all. The half mile or so of Scotland Wells was thick with spectators, who all hoped to see barfing and angst, sort of like they were at a NASCAR race and wanted just to see the wrecks. I shifted into a hill gear, and started chugging up it, Wilke style. The whole climb turned surreal, with my steady progress up the hill taking me past dozens of runners. You'd see people run, then jog, then shuffle, and then finally break and go into a full walk, some with hands on knees to push themselves up. Sort of like in the Tour de France, when the domestiques would go all out for their team leader, and once they ran out of gas, they'd just fall by the wayside, like spent booster rockets. It was a lot like that today. Anyway, I was somewhere on the way up, seriously thinking about following the example of those around me and starting a walk, when Carrie yelled from the side of the road, "Go Jay!" Dammit. Now, I had to keep running at least long enough to get out of her line of sight! So, I trundled on, lungs starting to scream a little. Sufficiently past her now, I again thought about walking the last 50 yards or so up the steep initial portion of the climb. But, just when I was forming the thought, I saw Jason on the near side of the road, and he yelled encouraging words to me. Now, it was all over, I had to run the whole darned thing, so I gutted it out and finished the hill in good style. Thanks, Jason and Carrie! I truly wouldn't have done so well there without your help! Now on the false "flat," which was still a steady incline, just a tad flatter, I found a faster rhythm, while trying to recover a little on that stretch. Surprisingly, I think I was able to do that. Kept passing folks, and finally, the torment was over, and we turned left towards the Mile 5 timing mat and water station. The relief was palpable.
I gave Larry a "low five" at the timing mat, took some water and the rest of my Enervitene at the water station there, and turned right to go up the nasty little hill that was there. Did well on that one...after Scotland Wells, the other hills didn't seem quite so awful. Cresting that hill, I protected my quads as much as I could going down the long downhill that followed, trying to remember the Gilbert-approved technique for downhill running. I was in a good frame of mind now, feeling pretty good, and I tried to take advantage of the easier pieces of this tough section. We crossed over and dropped down to a low water crossing, where the mile 6 marker was, and then climbed out of that. These smaller hills were taking a toll on those around me, too. Bad early pacing was really catching up with a lot of folks. During mile 7, I finally saw Shannon ahead of me, and so started stalking her for a possible running pass. I didn't see Amy, so she was still ahead, too. As we started the last tough hill, a double hill with a long shallow start and a nasty steep finish, I told a guy who looked like he was in trouble that it was truly the last hill. I think it helped him a little. Anyway, up that last hill, and in the words of Gilbert, it was theoretically time to "Go!" I got my rhythm back, and continued my chase of Shannon as the course flattened out. Took Gatorade at the mile 7 water station, and was off. The worst was over, and all I had to do now was pick up the pace. :-)
Mile splits 5-7: 8:38, 8:19, 8:22. Very good running in this tough section. Overall pace now 8:25. Time to go.
Mile 8 was where I bonked last year, waiting for my GU to kick in, so I was determined to make amends for that this year. I found a good rhythm on the flatter terrain (some slight inclines, but nothing severe), and soon caught up with Shannon. We had a brief conversation, and she finally told me to have a good race, so I pushed, thinking I would be moving away from her. Surprisingly, she changed her mind, and just hooked up with me, and we ran together until the middle of mile 9. That probably helped me keep moving faster. I could see Amy ahead of us, in her Texas shorts, but the gap seemed to stay at a steady 50-100 yards. I hoped I could catch her, but I was starting to doubt myself. Shannon and I passed Bryan on Jollyville Road, and my main thought was how long we had to run on this straightaway. Shannon finally said to me that I was starting to arch my back and run leaning backwards, and I appreciate that. I fixed that problem, and immediately started feeling better, and sped up for the rest of the race. Now in a good hard finishing gear, I turned onto Oak Knoll, and cranked it up for the homestretch.
Passing the 9 mile marker, I skipped that water stop, concentrating on momentum and speed. Suddenly, it seems, I found myself about 20 yards behind Amy. She was moving well, but I slowly gained on her as we zigzagged through the Motive business park again. Gilbert was running backwards on the course there, and yelled at us to run hard, and then he was gone. Now on the finishing straight, I finally caught Amy with maybe a half mile to go. She looked at me and said, "Don't do this to me again!," because I've caught her late at a bunch of races in the spring. We were running hard, so I told her to get going, and we'd run it in together. Later, of course, we both admitted that we'd have run slower if we hadn't seen each other, but this time, we were constantly picking it up all the way home. I was in serious focus mode now, straining my vision to see where the turn into the parking lot for the finish line was. We used the gentle downhill for all it was worth, and once we got to the turn, it was really sharp to the right. Amy cut the inside corner, and I was stuck going around to the left to get around a guy in the middle of the road. Giving it all I had, I chased Amy to the finish, but she got me by less than a second, beating me fair and square. I knew I had run a great race, but I was stunned to see my final time. What was it, you say?
Mile splits 8-10: 8:15, 7:30, 7:18! I don't think I ran any miles as fast as that in the 10K a few weeks ago! Overall time 1:21:59, pace 8:12/mile. I had destroyed my course PR and Masters PR by 6:32. It was a fabulous race, and I'm mostly proud of how consistent my pacing was and how strong I was late in the race. I think I've exorcised the various demons that had gotten me at this race in the past.
We took water, and caught our breath as we waited (not long) for Shannon and Bryan to finish right behind us. Alex soon showed up, with Gretchen and Liliana and Richard, and we all set out on a really slow recovery jog around the complex. Gretchen and Liliana ran while holding their granola and yogurt bowls, which gives you some idea of the very easy recovery pace that we established. Alex got under 7:00/mile pace, so he smoked the race, and Richard had a good day, too, blowing away his PR from last year. That recovery running sure felt good, and we were happy people.
I peeled off to get a dry and clean shirt at my truck, along with Endurox, and that was wonderful. Just having fresh clothes to put on after running like that is a nice thing. I chatted with Marcy, who was doing strides in the parking lot, and then headed to the post-race festivities for some food. Got Powerade, water, a banana, Girl Scout cookies and a Clif Bar, and I was all set! I drank all the fluids, ate the banana, and saved the cookies and Clif Bar for later.
Patrick was there with his dog, and it was nice of him to show up bright and early to be a spectator! The post-race conversations were fun and varied, as we all came down off our running highs. The sun felt great as we simply enjoyed the feeling of a race well run. Alex had a sausage wrap, I think, but declined my offer of my bib tag for a second helping. I wasn't interested in food that complicated quite so soon.
Anyway, a great race, and now it's time to spend 5 weeks or so purely on training, as the next Distance Challenge race is on 11/20, the Motive Half marathon, featuring another very long hill climb.
For the week, just over 40 miles running, two gym workouts, 37 minutes of cycling. I'm a happy but tired guy. Gilbert told us that 5 easy miles would be plenty tomorrow for a recovery run, so that's what I'll aspire to, here in the 'Hood.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Nice and Easy
This morning, we got to sleep in and meet at 7:30 am for 30 easy minutes of running on the trail. A good sized group was present, and it was a good opportunity to chat and laugh while we got the legs moving. Really really easy running. 10:00/mile running. About 3 miles, just over 30 minutes. No GPS required today.
After that, we did 6x100m striders on the grass, and then Gilbert had us do his balance drills (the Tsch, tsch, tsch drills). That was pretty funny, especially listening to the new folks grumble that "I'll never get this right..."
Patrick, Anne, Jason, Kenny and Sean joined us at the end of the drills for the stretching bonanza. They did maybe 2 or 3 miles, super easy, for their first runs since Chicago. It was good to see them and hear their marathon stories. Stretching was huge, with dozens of folks all lined up along the side of RunTex, but it was still fun. Gilbert was loose, going around and correcting form on the various stretches.
After that, Gilbert gave us some race advice and a verbal course preview, and we were done. Volel, Richard and I picked up our race packets for tomorrow (and I got some GU to replenish my supplies). Too bad they didn't do the race shirts like they did the volunteer shirts! The volunteer shirts were plain t-shirts, but they were bright yellow with the "Superman" Pervasive logo on them. The official shirts were technical short-sleeve shirts, but workout gray in color. Oh, well. It was such a nice morning that it was hard to get moving back home, but eventually the need to return home overwhelmed the fun of hanging out with my running friends, and it was time to go. We'll meet tomorrow morning at 6:30 for warmups, and then it's time to tackle the Pervasive 10 Miler.
This morning, we got to sleep in and meet at 7:30 am for 30 easy minutes of running on the trail. A good sized group was present, and it was a good opportunity to chat and laugh while we got the legs moving. Really really easy running. 10:00/mile running. About 3 miles, just over 30 minutes. No GPS required today.
After that, we did 6x100m striders on the grass, and then Gilbert had us do his balance drills (the Tsch, tsch, tsch drills). That was pretty funny, especially listening to the new folks grumble that "I'll never get this right..."
Patrick, Anne, Jason, Kenny and Sean joined us at the end of the drills for the stretching bonanza. They did maybe 2 or 3 miles, super easy, for their first runs since Chicago. It was good to see them and hear their marathon stories. Stretching was huge, with dozens of folks all lined up along the side of RunTex, but it was still fun. Gilbert was loose, going around and correcting form on the various stretches.
After that, Gilbert gave us some race advice and a verbal course preview, and we were done. Volel, Richard and I picked up our race packets for tomorrow (and I got some GU to replenish my supplies). Too bad they didn't do the race shirts like they did the volunteer shirts! The volunteer shirts were plain t-shirts, but they were bright yellow with the "Superman" Pervasive logo on them. The official shirts were technical short-sleeve shirts, but workout gray in color. Oh, well. It was such a nice morning that it was hard to get moving back home, but eventually the need to return home overwhelmed the fun of hanging out with my running friends, and it was time to go. We'll meet tomorrow morning at 6:30 for warmups, and then it's time to tackle the Pervasive 10 Miler.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Another Friday, Another Gym Visit
Today's gym extravaganza was a bit longer than usual, because I had additional time to spare, so I did 25 minutes on the cycle for a warmup. Just fine and dandy, and HR was right where it should be. On the core stuff, I finally got to 2x15 on the Roman Chair straight leg lifts, I used 10 lbs on the oblique raises on that apparatus, and I added time on the plank exercises. All in all, a very good core workout.
Leg stuff was mainly to finish flushing out the legs, so nothing too exciting there, just quad extensions, hamstring curls, and calf raises. Added Seated Rows to the upper body workout, and got to 2x15 of the tricep extensions with 25 lbs. Those are really hard at the end of each set.
I did some major changes on the songs on the iPod this morning, so it was fun to see how the shuffle play would act with the new songs. I took out a bunch of songs that were way too mellow for use with exercising, and loaded more upbeat stuff to take their places.
Anyway, it was a really solid workout, and now it's time to rest up for Pervasive. Packet pickup is tomorrow, after our easy 30 minute jog and stretching. I'm ready to race!
Today's gym extravaganza was a bit longer than usual, because I had additional time to spare, so I did 25 minutes on the cycle for a warmup. Just fine and dandy, and HR was right where it should be. On the core stuff, I finally got to 2x15 on the Roman Chair straight leg lifts, I used 10 lbs on the oblique raises on that apparatus, and I added time on the plank exercises. All in all, a very good core workout.
Leg stuff was mainly to finish flushing out the legs, so nothing too exciting there, just quad extensions, hamstring curls, and calf raises. Added Seated Rows to the upper body workout, and got to 2x15 of the tricep extensions with 25 lbs. Those are really hard at the end of each set.
I did some major changes on the songs on the iPod this morning, so it was fun to see how the shuffle play would act with the new songs. I took out a bunch of songs that were way too mellow for use with exercising, and loaded more upbeat stuff to take their places.
Anyway, it was a really solid workout, and now it's time to rest up for Pervasive. Packet pickup is tomorrow, after our easy 30 minute jog and stretching. I'm ready to race!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
More NightRunning
I finally got around to doing the easy one hour recovery run this evening, right at dusk. It was pleasant outside, now that the nights actually cool off from the afternoon highs (which were "only" 85 today). I started out by running in the 'Hood, and then did the slightly shorter water tower run on the trail, which was interesting since it was full night by then. I didn't step on any rocks, so no harm done. Finished off with more meandering through the 'Hood, and I was home. Just under 60 minutes, 6.3 miles at 9:26/mile, and my HR was hanging out in the full easy zone the whole time. It just felt nice to be out there, alone with the music and my own thoughts.
I got an interesting three song cycle of "Runnin' With The Devil," "Surfin' USA," and "Truckin' ," which were notable as a threesome only by their dropped "g"s.
Tomorrow is a gym visit, Saturday is a super easy 30 minutes and stretching, and the evil Pervasive 10 Miler is Sunday. I think I'm ready for it this year. Goals on Saturday.
I drove the Pervasive course yesterday afternoon, and it looks as tough as I remember. The first 3 miles or so are flat to very gentle uphill, then there's a big drop to the low point on the course over a two stage downhill. At that point, it turns very steeply uphill for the half mile torture test that is Scotland Wells Drive. It has a false top and a second incline, and then it flattens just for a half mile after a left hand turn or so to the 5 mile mark. After that, there's a series of a couple of three significant uphill stretches and accompanying flat or downhill bits between them. Once you reach the 7 mile mark, it's all flat to gentle downhill after that. So, as always, the key is to find your pace early, find your hill climbing gear during the next 3 miles and enjoy the downhills and flats as much as possible in the middle, and then "go!" as Gilbert suggests for the last 3 miles. Sounds easy enough...can I implement the Plan?
I finally got around to doing the easy one hour recovery run this evening, right at dusk. It was pleasant outside, now that the nights actually cool off from the afternoon highs (which were "only" 85 today). I started out by running in the 'Hood, and then did the slightly shorter water tower run on the trail, which was interesting since it was full night by then. I didn't step on any rocks, so no harm done. Finished off with more meandering through the 'Hood, and I was home. Just under 60 minutes, 6.3 miles at 9:26/mile, and my HR was hanging out in the full easy zone the whole time. It just felt nice to be out there, alone with the music and my own thoughts.
I got an interesting three song cycle of "Runnin' With The Devil," "Surfin' USA," and "Truckin' ," which were notable as a threesome only by their dropped "g"s.
Tomorrow is a gym visit, Saturday is a super easy 30 minutes and stretching, and the evil Pervasive 10 Miler is Sunday. I think I'm ready for it this year. Goals on Saturday.
I drove the Pervasive course yesterday afternoon, and it looks as tough as I remember. The first 3 miles or so are flat to very gentle uphill, then there's a big drop to the low point on the course over a two stage downhill. At that point, it turns very steeply uphill for the half mile torture test that is Scotland Wells Drive. It has a false top and a second incline, and then it flattens just for a half mile after a left hand turn or so to the 5 mile mark. After that, there's a series of a couple of three significant uphill stretches and accompanying flat or downhill bits between them. Once you reach the 7 mile mark, it's all flat to gentle downhill after that. So, as always, the key is to find your pace early, find your hill climbing gear during the next 3 miles and enjoy the downhills and flats as much as possible in the middle, and then "go!" as Gilbert suggests for the last 3 miles. Sounds easy enough...can I implement the Plan?
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Zilker 1000m Repeats (Through the Fog and Mist...)
It was sort of surreal driving down to RunTex this morning, through the fog and mist. It was the conditions that movie makers want when they're filming their moody masterpieces. A good sized crew (numbers of people, not their actual size :-) ) set out for Zilker Park for our 1000m repeat workout. For many in the group, the new Freescale people in particular, this was their first exposure to this workout. I ran over in the dark with Bryan, and it was pretty casual running over there. It was truly dark while we did our drills, and in fact, it didn't really get all that light during the workout, either. That's not a big problem except that it eliminates the easy glance at your watch to determine how your pacing is going on each repeat.
We're still not organized into pace groups for these workouts, since most folks are pretty new, so Gilbert sent us out on the first one in a big mob. He suggested a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5, especially if we were racing Pervasive on Sunday. His stated goal was to get a "baseline" speed for the new folks, and he expects us to run more of these, faster, as the training goes along. This 1000m course is a road course, with a gentle downhill at first, and then really flat after that initial decline. Last time I did this one, I did 5 repeats at about 4:25 per repeat. Today I would run by feel, and see where I am.
On the first repeat, I soon passed up most of the folks, and settled in a spot behind two women about 20 yards ahead of me, but ahead of anyone else. I was surprised that I started out with a personal best for this course. We did a walk/jog recovery across the soccer fields between each repeat. I hooked up with those two women, Sharlene and ?, for the next two repeats, which we slowed just slightly on. I was feeling good, and after a cup of Powerade, I found myself alone at the top of the course for repeat number four, except for the two fast guys in the group, Mason and another guy who I didn't get his name. It was scary, but even in the dark, I could tell that it was Blue flavor Powerade. That must be a bad sign, that I can discern the flavor of Powerade in a sort of blind taste test. I trailed the two fast guys for repeats number 4 and 5, returning to my initial repeat pace and then kicking it up a notch on my last one.
The splits: 4:18, 4:23, 4:23, 4:19, 4:12. Average split 4:19, average pace 6:57/mile! Frankly, I was stunned at that average pace, because it really didn't feel like I was blasting away at these this morning. That's faster than I ran 800m repeats on the track last time out.
I ran back to RunTex with Mason and Sharlene, which was fun as well. I did a quick bit of stretching once I got a dry shirt on, and even got a chat in with Gilbert about Saturday and Sunday's plans. Gilbert told me, after we talked about the Chicago people all having big PR's, that at Freescale it was my time to have a big PR. I hope I perform there as my training seems to be showing.
Rest of this week is easy until Sunday. Thursday another easy one hour recovery run, Friday is cycle + gym, Saturday is easy 30 minutes and stretching. I'll go drive the Pervasive course today or tomorrow, just to remember all the twists and turns of the hilly portion of the race, and then it's just time to focus and run a good race there for the first time.
For the day, 6.7 miles, with 5K of intervals in the middle at 6:57 average pace.
It was sort of surreal driving down to RunTex this morning, through the fog and mist. It was the conditions that movie makers want when they're filming their moody masterpieces. A good sized crew (numbers of people, not their actual size :-) ) set out for Zilker Park for our 1000m repeat workout. For many in the group, the new Freescale people in particular, this was their first exposure to this workout. I ran over in the dark with Bryan, and it was pretty casual running over there. It was truly dark while we did our drills, and in fact, it didn't really get all that light during the workout, either. That's not a big problem except that it eliminates the easy glance at your watch to determine how your pacing is going on each repeat.
We're still not organized into pace groups for these workouts, since most folks are pretty new, so Gilbert sent us out on the first one in a big mob. He suggested a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5, especially if we were racing Pervasive on Sunday. His stated goal was to get a "baseline" speed for the new folks, and he expects us to run more of these, faster, as the training goes along. This 1000m course is a road course, with a gentle downhill at first, and then really flat after that initial decline. Last time I did this one, I did 5 repeats at about 4:25 per repeat. Today I would run by feel, and see where I am.
On the first repeat, I soon passed up most of the folks, and settled in a spot behind two women about 20 yards ahead of me, but ahead of anyone else. I was surprised that I started out with a personal best for this course. We did a walk/jog recovery across the soccer fields between each repeat. I hooked up with those two women, Sharlene and ?, for the next two repeats, which we slowed just slightly on. I was feeling good, and after a cup of Powerade, I found myself alone at the top of the course for repeat number four, except for the two fast guys in the group, Mason and another guy who I didn't get his name. It was scary, but even in the dark, I could tell that it was Blue flavor Powerade. That must be a bad sign, that I can discern the flavor of Powerade in a sort of blind taste test. I trailed the two fast guys for repeats number 4 and 5, returning to my initial repeat pace and then kicking it up a notch on my last one.
The splits: 4:18, 4:23, 4:23, 4:19, 4:12. Average split 4:19, average pace 6:57/mile! Frankly, I was stunned at that average pace, because it really didn't feel like I was blasting away at these this morning. That's faster than I ran 800m repeats on the track last time out.
I ran back to RunTex with Mason and Sharlene, which was fun as well. I did a quick bit of stretching once I got a dry shirt on, and even got a chat in with Gilbert about Saturday and Sunday's plans. Gilbert told me, after we talked about the Chicago people all having big PR's, that at Freescale it was my time to have a big PR. I hope I perform there as my training seems to be showing.
Rest of this week is easy until Sunday. Thursday another easy one hour recovery run, Friday is cycle + gym, Saturday is easy 30 minutes and stretching. I'll go drive the Pervasive course today or tomorrow, just to remember all the twists and turns of the hilly portion of the race, and then it's just time to focus and run a good race there for the first time.
For the day, 6.7 miles, with 5K of intervals in the middle at 6:57 average pace.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Easy Recovery Run (By Moonlight...)
This evening, in the twilight and by moonlight, I had a nice little 3.7 mile run on the water tower trail and a little bit on the streets in the 'Hood. It was just a HR limited effort to work out the residue from yesterday's pace run. All systems go, it was mostly an excuse to listen to the iPod while cruising along. Average pace a very easy 9:37/mile.
I didn't know before tonight that "Suzie Q," the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, was in a really weird mix. On headphones, the drums and lead vocal are in the right ear, and the guitars and bass and harmony vocals are in the left ear. That was almost strange enough that I needed to change the song, but I got used to it after a while.
Tomorrow, it's 1000m repeats on the road course at Zilker, and it's been a really long time since I've done those. Should be interesting to see where I am with that.
This evening, in the twilight and by moonlight, I had a nice little 3.7 mile run on the water tower trail and a little bit on the streets in the 'Hood. It was just a HR limited effort to work out the residue from yesterday's pace run. All systems go, it was mostly an excuse to listen to the iPod while cruising along. Average pace a very easy 9:37/mile.
I didn't know before tonight that "Suzie Q," the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, was in a really weird mix. On headphones, the drums and lead vocal are in the right ear, and the guitars and bass and harmony vocals are in the left ear. That was almost strange enough that I needed to change the song, but I got used to it after a while.
Tomorrow, it's 1000m repeats on the road course at Zilker, and it's been a really long time since I've done those. Should be interesting to see where I am with that.
Gym Work & Spectating
This afternoon, another gym workout, and more chances to people watch. The workout itself was a good one. I've even started using a tiny bit of handheld weights when I do the oblique raises during the core stuff. The hardest things in the core workout are the roman chair exercises and the static plank exercises, the first and last things I do in that portion of the festivities. Today I discovered that Paul McCartney's "Take It Away," a pretty smarmy song, has beats exactly one second apart (if you count ONE two THREE four), which made it a handy tune for the plank stuff.
Just did weighted lunges for legs, since I'm going to do a really easy short run later today. And, since I had that extra time, I put back the lat pulldowns in the arm/upper body portion of things.
Oh, yeah, did 12 minute warmup on the cycle, just to spin things up.
As for the people watching portion of the day, I was amused by a girl who it seems has had "after market" work done, along with extreme bleached blonde hair. While I rode the cycle, I speculated to myself about what she looked like in her previous natural state, before all the drastic changes. I may have laughed out loud as I pondered this important question. However, the question I really wanted to ask her was what her stage name was, but that would have caused an ugly scene, I'm sure. :-)
This afternoon, another gym workout, and more chances to people watch. The workout itself was a good one. I've even started using a tiny bit of handheld weights when I do the oblique raises during the core stuff. The hardest things in the core workout are the roman chair exercises and the static plank exercises, the first and last things I do in that portion of the festivities. Today I discovered that Paul McCartney's "Take It Away," a pretty smarmy song, has beats exactly one second apart (if you count ONE two THREE four), which made it a handy tune for the plank stuff.
Just did weighted lunges for legs, since I'm going to do a really easy short run later today. And, since I had that extra time, I put back the lat pulldowns in the arm/upper body portion of things.
Oh, yeah, did 12 minute warmup on the cycle, just to spin things up.
As for the people watching portion of the day, I was amused by a girl who it seems has had "after market" work done, along with extreme bleached blonde hair. While I rode the cycle, I speculated to myself about what she looked like in her previous natural state, before all the drastic changes. I may have laughed out loud as I pondered this important question. However, the question I really wanted to ask her was what her stage name was, but that would have caused an ugly scene, I'm sure. :-)
Monday, October 10, 2005
Pace Run Through the Puddles
This morning, it was raining fairly hard up at the house. Still, I figured Amy and Shannon would be down at Town Lake, since they had e-mailed me about the pace run to confirm the starting time, so I packed my stuff up and trundled down to RunTex. I was thinking it would be a soggy run, but maybe we'd get some laughs out of it, even if we maybe didn't run it as a pace run. Who knows?
By the time I got down to RunTex, it wasn't raining at all. It was totally humid, and there were puddles on the trail, but it wasn't actually raining. That would be fine with me. I did some easy stretching while I waited in the empty parking lot, starting to think that the rain in other parts of the city would keep most folks at home. I also wasn't sure if Gilbert was back in town from Chicago, so I just waited to see who, if anyone, would show.
Finally, Alex pulled up, and shortly thereafter, Ivi, Shannon, Richard and Bryan joined us. So, at least we had some sort of group for the run. Gilbert rolled up just after that, and told us what to do, and sent us out on the trail. Alex went off with Ivi way ahead of us, and that left the four remaining folks as a pack at the start of the run. Gretchen pulled into the parking lot right when we were leaving, and she soon caught up with us on the easy 2 mile warmup portion of the festivities. Shannon was running with her dog, and as you might expect, the dog had the easiest day of any of us, loping along at easy dog pace all day long.
We crossed the I-35 bridge and turned onto the trail again, and it was time to start the pace portion of the run. Gretchen took off ahead, then I trailed her, and the rest of the troops were behind me somewhere when we started the faster running. Richard did a 20 miler on Saturday, so Gilbert told him to run relaxed, so he wasn't doing the fast stuff today. Oh, well. I just settled into a faster but sustainable pace and kept on rolling on the dark and damp trail. I couldn't see my watch, but that was probably a good thing, since I could concentrate on just running instead of obsessing over the numbers. There weren't many people out this morning, so there weren't even that many folks to try to catch. Except for a shoe soaking at the boat ramp near Austin High School, it was just running as I crossed back over Mopac footbridge for the homestretch of the run.
I kept the pace up, and counted down the quarter mile markers all the way down to Zero, and I was done. Turns out, I did some pretty solid running today.
Splits: 10:07, 9:16 (warmup 2 miles), then 7:41, 7:38, 7:38, 7:45, 7:46 for the pace stuff. Fast portion was 5 miles at 7:42 average pace, pretty good running.
After we all had finished, we did 6x100m strides, and then most of us stayed at RunTex later and did the full stretching routine. It was the first pace run for Bryan, so he had the usual issues with trying to figure out what the pace was supposed to be during the faster bit (somewhere between 10K and marathon race pace, your "hour run" pace). The rest of us offered what guidance we had picked up doing pace runs for a while now. We had fun talking while we stretched, and Gilbert showed up halfway through and tortured me a little on the hamstring stretches, too. It was a good finish to a pretty good running day.
Alex has this week off, so my only worry is that he'll go to the gym every day and attend all the Gazelles workouts all four weekdays. I'm not REALLY worried about that, but it's fun to tease him. Gilbert was pleased with the Chicago marathoners, by the way, but it seems he really wasn't comfortable with the size of the race. All those runners were just a little too much for Coach, but he had a good time helping the Gazelles along the course. Seems that he ran most of the folks in for at least a quarter mile or so, and that can be a big help late in a big marathon effort.
The rest of Columbus Day will be supervising homework and Science Fair research with the kids. Yee Haw. With any luck, they'll get enough work done that we can go and catch a movie. That would be more fun than all-day homework, for sure!
This morning, it was raining fairly hard up at the house. Still, I figured Amy and Shannon would be down at Town Lake, since they had e-mailed me about the pace run to confirm the starting time, so I packed my stuff up and trundled down to RunTex. I was thinking it would be a soggy run, but maybe we'd get some laughs out of it, even if we maybe didn't run it as a pace run. Who knows?
By the time I got down to RunTex, it wasn't raining at all. It was totally humid, and there were puddles on the trail, but it wasn't actually raining. That would be fine with me. I did some easy stretching while I waited in the empty parking lot, starting to think that the rain in other parts of the city would keep most folks at home. I also wasn't sure if Gilbert was back in town from Chicago, so I just waited to see who, if anyone, would show.
Finally, Alex pulled up, and shortly thereafter, Ivi, Shannon, Richard and Bryan joined us. So, at least we had some sort of group for the run. Gilbert rolled up just after that, and told us what to do, and sent us out on the trail. Alex went off with Ivi way ahead of us, and that left the four remaining folks as a pack at the start of the run. Gretchen pulled into the parking lot right when we were leaving, and she soon caught up with us on the easy 2 mile warmup portion of the festivities. Shannon was running with her dog, and as you might expect, the dog had the easiest day of any of us, loping along at easy dog pace all day long.
We crossed the I-35 bridge and turned onto the trail again, and it was time to start the pace portion of the run. Gretchen took off ahead, then I trailed her, and the rest of the troops were behind me somewhere when we started the faster running. Richard did a 20 miler on Saturday, so Gilbert told him to run relaxed, so he wasn't doing the fast stuff today. Oh, well. I just settled into a faster but sustainable pace and kept on rolling on the dark and damp trail. I couldn't see my watch, but that was probably a good thing, since I could concentrate on just running instead of obsessing over the numbers. There weren't many people out this morning, so there weren't even that many folks to try to catch. Except for a shoe soaking at the boat ramp near Austin High School, it was just running as I crossed back over Mopac footbridge for the homestretch of the run.
I kept the pace up, and counted down the quarter mile markers all the way down to Zero, and I was done. Turns out, I did some pretty solid running today.
Splits: 10:07, 9:16 (warmup 2 miles), then 7:41, 7:38, 7:38, 7:45, 7:46 for the pace stuff. Fast portion was 5 miles at 7:42 average pace, pretty good running.
After we all had finished, we did 6x100m strides, and then most of us stayed at RunTex later and did the full stretching routine. It was the first pace run for Bryan, so he had the usual issues with trying to figure out what the pace was supposed to be during the faster bit (somewhere between 10K and marathon race pace, your "hour run" pace). The rest of us offered what guidance we had picked up doing pace runs for a while now. We had fun talking while we stretched, and Gilbert showed up halfway through and tortured me a little on the hamstring stretches, too. It was a good finish to a pretty good running day.
Alex has this week off, so my only worry is that he'll go to the gym every day and attend all the Gazelles workouts all four weekdays. I'm not REALLY worried about that, but it's fun to tease him. Gilbert was pleased with the Chicago marathoners, by the way, but it seems he really wasn't comfortable with the size of the race. All those runners were just a little too much for Coach, but he had a good time helping the Gazelles along the course. Seems that he ran most of the folks in for at least a quarter mile or so, and that can be a big help late in a big marathon effort.
The rest of Columbus Day will be supervising homework and Science Fair research with the kids. Yee Haw. With any luck, they'll get enough work done that we can go and catch a movie. That would be more fun than all-day homework, for sure!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Chicago-Style Marathoning
Well, the Austin Gazelles did a good job up in the Windy City this morning. Looks like there was great weather, with maybe some wind as a hindrance late in the race. We had a lot of Boston Qualifiers, especially with the women runners. Looks like Jason Epstein ran EXACTLY what he needed for his 3:10:59 BQ. He and Sean Glynn did a great job of consistent running, too. I'll get the full stories later, after the beer and/or pizza is consumed this afternoon up there, but with few exceptions, it looks like PR's all around, so the mood should be good. It's obvious that I've got some work to do to hang out with those folks...it's time to step up my own running to join their rarified performance level!
I can't wait to hear all the marathon stories over the next week...
Well, the Austin Gazelles did a good job up in the Windy City this morning. Looks like there was great weather, with maybe some wind as a hindrance late in the race. We had a lot of Boston Qualifiers, especially with the women runners. Looks like Jason Epstein ran EXACTLY what he needed for his 3:10:59 BQ. He and Sean Glynn did a great job of consistent running, too. I'll get the full stories later, after the beer and/or pizza is consumed this afternoon up there, but with few exceptions, it looks like PR's all around, so the mood should be good. It's obvious that I've got some work to do to hang out with those folks...it's time to step up my own running to join their rarified performance level!
I can't wait to hear all the marathon stories over the next week...
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Mt. Bonnell & Wonderful Weather
It was simply perfect running weather out there this morning. Temp hung out around 60 degrees throughout, and it was clear and crisp. I even broke out a long-sleeved running shirt for the first time since maybe early April.
We gathered at 6:00 am at RunTex for our assault on Bonnell. Since Gilbert is in Chicago, we were sort of self-organized. Bernard and Shae were there to deliver the water/Powerade coolers to a couple of spots, but we basically got things going as far as running. Gilbert's instructions were to run the long run as usual, but to pick it up the last two miles. After some milling about, we finally got going just a few minutes late, in a big blob of runners.
Over the first mile, we settled into pace groups, with Alex and Liliana going on ahead with the faster folks, and a large group was hanging around at our pace. We had Amy, Shannon, Sharlene, Jennifer, Bryan, Janica, Volel, Joseph and Bob. A couple of other guys went with us part of the way, turning off at 35th Street for "just" 12 miles on the day. The first 2 or 3 miles were really relaxed, with the only HR bump on the short hill on Veterans Blvd. The first water/Powerade coolers were right where they were supposed to be, so we took a fairly quick 1:45 stop there to top off the tanks, so to speak. I went ahead and did a GU there, too. So far, so good. Everyone was having fun and chatting away, and we were off on the hilly second leg of our journey, to the top of Bonnell.
Splits Miles 1-3.74: 9:52, 10:11, 9:51, .74 miles at 9:36. Overall pace 9:54.
Entering the Scenic Loop, I think I usually speed up for some reason, and today was no exception. Volel was drifting ahead of the group a little bit, getting caught up with Dwayne, a faster guy who had passed us. Everyone else was sort of finding a pace partner during the more challenging portion of the run. The closer we got to Mt. Bonnell, the more information we gave to those who were new to the route. I told everyone about the corner, the false top, and the second incline, just so they wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, we hit the bottom of the Bonnell hill, and Volel was ahead of us. Joseph and I picked it up pretty well when the road turned sharply uphill, and we soon caught Volel. Joseph stayed right with me all the way up, and it was really cool to finish the steep part like that. We all grouped back up at the Gatorade there at the top of Bonnell, and again, I took a GU, my last one of the day. This stop was much longer, as everyone sort of celebrated the cresting of the hill. Amy and Joseph walked up the steps to the very top of Bonnell, but the rest of us figured we didn't really need that. The break was over, and it was time to get moving on the homeward leg. Off we went.
Splits miles 4-7: 9:28, 9:14, 9:02, and .3 miles up Bonnell at 9:10/mile pace. Overall pace to 7.04 miles was 9:35/mile. With the first water stop time added, overall pace dropped to 9:50/mile. It was a good run already, and it was time to enjoy some downhill running!
The giant group meandered down Balcones Woods to 35th, up the hill there, and onto Exposition. By then, a front pack of Volel, Joseph, Sharlene and me had formed, as we picked it up on the rolling hills heading back. There was a lot of talking as we ran, so it didn't feel too fast, but it turns out we were picking it up pretty consistently all the way to the last water stop. It was the most fun running I've had on that stretch of road in a long time, and that felt great! We reached the last Powerade/water stop at O. Henry Middle School in time to see Alex and Liliana head out for the end of their run. I guess they were taking it pretty easy...otherwise we'd never see them once they got away from us early. This water stop took a while, too, with the size of the group.
Splits miles 8-10.3: 9:18, 8:35, 8:31, .3 miles at 8:36/mile pace. Overall pace had dropped to 9:20/mile. Adding the first two water stop times, it slowed to 9:53/mile.
Gilbert had told us to pick it up for the last two miles, but I guess I picked it up right away after the O. Henry Powerade stop. I chased Sharlene, and Joseph was right with me. The rest of the folks were somewhere behind us, but by now, I was just enjoying running so much that I just had eyes on the road in front of me. We flew down to the Mopac bridge, and after crossing over, we caught Sharlene somewhere inside 2 miles to go. Joseph just kept pushing, so I resolved to stay with him. Using him as a pacer, it was relatively easy to keep moving along at what turned out to be 10K race pace. It just felt great to be moving like we were at the end of a long hilly run. Joseph put on a short burst of speed right at the end of the run to "win" the run, but then I kept moving, slightly slower, to do a cooldown lap of Auditorium Shores. It was such a nice day that I just felt like keeping on running. During the summer runs, when the run was over, no one felt like doing any extra steps, much less an extra lap. Weather makes a difference!
Splits Miles 11-14.5: 7:37, 7:33, 7:34, and cooldown lap of .87 miles at 8:59/mile pace. Overall final running pace 8:55/mile, with all water stop time, slowing to 9:31/mile. Just great numbers all around.
I did a few strides to loosen back up (4x100m), and then headed back to RunTex to lead the stretching session. Since it was still relatively cool, still in the low 60's, I put on long running pants and a windshirt for stretching. It was cool enough to get chilled if you didn't put on dry, warm clothes. I can't emphasize enough how happy everyone was to be out there this morning...we found a nice dry area in the grass and in the sun by Palmer Auditorium, and spread out there for stretching. There was a lot of laughter as we enjoyed the simple pleasures of good friends, great weather, and something of an after-buzz from the good runs. Richard finished up his last 20 miler for NYC about when we did (they started at 5:00!), and the nice weather even made that run for him a lot more fun. He looked and sounded very happy with his day.
Once the stretching was done, our running day was over. I hope that the weather is nearly as nice next Sunday for the Pervasive 10 Miler, on the evil hilly course that it features.
For the week, almost 36 miles of running, two good gym workouts, and even a little bit of indoor cycling. A great exercise week. Now, it's the UT/Oklahoma football game today, some Major League baseball playoff games, and Sunday morning it's time to follow all my friends running the Chicago Marathon. A busy weekend, of sorts.
It was simply perfect running weather out there this morning. Temp hung out around 60 degrees throughout, and it was clear and crisp. I even broke out a long-sleeved running shirt for the first time since maybe early April.
We gathered at 6:00 am at RunTex for our assault on Bonnell. Since Gilbert is in Chicago, we were sort of self-organized. Bernard and Shae were there to deliver the water/Powerade coolers to a couple of spots, but we basically got things going as far as running. Gilbert's instructions were to run the long run as usual, but to pick it up the last two miles. After some milling about, we finally got going just a few minutes late, in a big blob of runners.
Over the first mile, we settled into pace groups, with Alex and Liliana going on ahead with the faster folks, and a large group was hanging around at our pace. We had Amy, Shannon, Sharlene, Jennifer, Bryan, Janica, Volel, Joseph and Bob. A couple of other guys went with us part of the way, turning off at 35th Street for "just" 12 miles on the day. The first 2 or 3 miles were really relaxed, with the only HR bump on the short hill on Veterans Blvd. The first water/Powerade coolers were right where they were supposed to be, so we took a fairly quick 1:45 stop there to top off the tanks, so to speak. I went ahead and did a GU there, too. So far, so good. Everyone was having fun and chatting away, and we were off on the hilly second leg of our journey, to the top of Bonnell.
Splits Miles 1-3.74: 9:52, 10:11, 9:51, .74 miles at 9:36. Overall pace 9:54.
Entering the Scenic Loop, I think I usually speed up for some reason, and today was no exception. Volel was drifting ahead of the group a little bit, getting caught up with Dwayne, a faster guy who had passed us. Everyone else was sort of finding a pace partner during the more challenging portion of the run. The closer we got to Mt. Bonnell, the more information we gave to those who were new to the route. I told everyone about the corner, the false top, and the second incline, just so they wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, we hit the bottom of the Bonnell hill, and Volel was ahead of us. Joseph and I picked it up pretty well when the road turned sharply uphill, and we soon caught Volel. Joseph stayed right with me all the way up, and it was really cool to finish the steep part like that. We all grouped back up at the Gatorade there at the top of Bonnell, and again, I took a GU, my last one of the day. This stop was much longer, as everyone sort of celebrated the cresting of the hill. Amy and Joseph walked up the steps to the very top of Bonnell, but the rest of us figured we didn't really need that. The break was over, and it was time to get moving on the homeward leg. Off we went.
Splits miles 4-7: 9:28, 9:14, 9:02, and .3 miles up Bonnell at 9:10/mile pace. Overall pace to 7.04 miles was 9:35/mile. With the first water stop time added, overall pace dropped to 9:50/mile. It was a good run already, and it was time to enjoy some downhill running!
The giant group meandered down Balcones Woods to 35th, up the hill there, and onto Exposition. By then, a front pack of Volel, Joseph, Sharlene and me had formed, as we picked it up on the rolling hills heading back. There was a lot of talking as we ran, so it didn't feel too fast, but it turns out we were picking it up pretty consistently all the way to the last water stop. It was the most fun running I've had on that stretch of road in a long time, and that felt great! We reached the last Powerade/water stop at O. Henry Middle School in time to see Alex and Liliana head out for the end of their run. I guess they were taking it pretty easy...otherwise we'd never see them once they got away from us early. This water stop took a while, too, with the size of the group.
Splits miles 8-10.3: 9:18, 8:35, 8:31, .3 miles at 8:36/mile pace. Overall pace had dropped to 9:20/mile. Adding the first two water stop times, it slowed to 9:53/mile.
Gilbert had told us to pick it up for the last two miles, but I guess I picked it up right away after the O. Henry Powerade stop. I chased Sharlene, and Joseph was right with me. The rest of the folks were somewhere behind us, but by now, I was just enjoying running so much that I just had eyes on the road in front of me. We flew down to the Mopac bridge, and after crossing over, we caught Sharlene somewhere inside 2 miles to go. Joseph just kept pushing, so I resolved to stay with him. Using him as a pacer, it was relatively easy to keep moving along at what turned out to be 10K race pace. It just felt great to be moving like we were at the end of a long hilly run. Joseph put on a short burst of speed right at the end of the run to "win" the run, but then I kept moving, slightly slower, to do a cooldown lap of Auditorium Shores. It was such a nice day that I just felt like keeping on running. During the summer runs, when the run was over, no one felt like doing any extra steps, much less an extra lap. Weather makes a difference!
Splits Miles 11-14.5: 7:37, 7:33, 7:34, and cooldown lap of .87 miles at 8:59/mile pace. Overall final running pace 8:55/mile, with all water stop time, slowing to 9:31/mile. Just great numbers all around.
I did a few strides to loosen back up (4x100m), and then headed back to RunTex to lead the stretching session. Since it was still relatively cool, still in the low 60's, I put on long running pants and a windshirt for stretching. It was cool enough to get chilled if you didn't put on dry, warm clothes. I can't emphasize enough how happy everyone was to be out there this morning...we found a nice dry area in the grass and in the sun by Palmer Auditorium, and spread out there for stretching. There was a lot of laughter as we enjoyed the simple pleasures of good friends, great weather, and something of an after-buzz from the good runs. Richard finished up his last 20 miler for NYC about when we did (they started at 5:00!), and the nice weather even made that run for him a lot more fun. He looked and sounded very happy with his day.
Once the stretching was done, our running day was over. I hope that the weather is nearly as nice next Sunday for the Pervasive 10 Miler, on the evil hilly course that it features.
For the week, almost 36 miles of running, two good gym workouts, and even a little bit of indoor cycling. A great exercise week. Now, it's the UT/Oklahoma football game today, some Major League baseball playoff games, and Sunday morning it's time to follow all my friends running the Chicago Marathon. A busy weekend, of sorts.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Gym + Cycle
The cool front finished blowing in today, and it's absolutely great running weather! I can't wait for tomorrow's Bonnell run. It should be just perfect.
My exercise activities today, however, were of the indoor variety. Started with 17 minutes on the cycle to spin up the legs and get the HR pumping ever so gently. Then, core stuff was the vast majority of the actual weight work. Added some time to the plank exercises, and I'm happy to note that all this work must be helping, because some of the stuff is getting easier for me. Cool. Easy leg stuff today, with quad extensions, hamstring curls and calf raises. Those just finish flushing the legs of the Wednesday and Thursday runs. Upper body was the minimal bicep curls, bench press and tricep extensions. I added some weight to bench, and I'm now at 2x12 @ 85 pounds there. Creeping up ever so slowly on the magical 100 lb mark for bench.
I saw three people in particular who either intimidated or amused me. While I was cycling, I saw a young woman dressed in more or less normal workout clothes, but over her sports bra top, she was wearing a slinky camisole. What's up with that? She was not an uber-babe, either. Then, I saw a guy on the elliptical machine, hunched over it, pumping away at a zillion steps per second, holding onto the rails for dear life. Maybe Alex hits the elliptical like that, but it just looked deeply wrong compared to everyone else's form on the machine. The last person was a woman who was doing upper body stuff while I was doing bicep curls. While I was huffing away at my 50 lb. curl bar, I noticed she was doing curls with 50 pounds in each hand, followed by a quick set of some other arm exercise with a big bar. There's always someone around who is farther along on the fitness scale than you, I guess, but it was startling in this case.
A good workout, and I'm looking forward to Bonnell tomorrow. I hope Gilbert's cousin Bernard remembers to put out the two coolers he's responsible for! I've got the one on Mt. Bonnell covered, but he's got the other two that'll be out there for us. If he forgets, we've got backup places for fluids, but we can keep our fingers crossed in the meantime.
The cool front finished blowing in today, and it's absolutely great running weather! I can't wait for tomorrow's Bonnell run. It should be just perfect.
My exercise activities today, however, were of the indoor variety. Started with 17 minutes on the cycle to spin up the legs and get the HR pumping ever so gently. Then, core stuff was the vast majority of the actual weight work. Added some time to the plank exercises, and I'm happy to note that all this work must be helping, because some of the stuff is getting easier for me. Cool. Easy leg stuff today, with quad extensions, hamstring curls and calf raises. Those just finish flushing the legs of the Wednesday and Thursday runs. Upper body was the minimal bicep curls, bench press and tricep extensions. I added some weight to bench, and I'm now at 2x12 @ 85 pounds there. Creeping up ever so slowly on the magical 100 lb mark for bench.
I saw three people in particular who either intimidated or amused me. While I was cycling, I saw a young woman dressed in more or less normal workout clothes, but over her sports bra top, she was wearing a slinky camisole. What's up with that? She was not an uber-babe, either. Then, I saw a guy on the elliptical machine, hunched over it, pumping away at a zillion steps per second, holding onto the rails for dear life. Maybe Alex hits the elliptical like that, but it just looked deeply wrong compared to everyone else's form on the machine. The last person was a woman who was doing upper body stuff while I was doing bicep curls. While I was huffing away at my 50 lb. curl bar, I noticed she was doing curls with 50 pounds in each hand, followed by a quick set of some other arm exercise with a big bar. There's always someone around who is farther along on the fitness scale than you, I guess, but it was startling in this case.
A good workout, and I'm looking forward to Bonnell tomorrow. I hope Gilbert's cousin Bernard remembers to put out the two coolers he's responsible for! I've got the one on Mt. Bonnell covered, but he's got the other two that'll be out there for us. If he forgets, we've got backup places for fluids, but we can keep our fingers crossed in the meantime.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
EZ Running
What a wonderful change in the weather during the course of the day! The very long-promised cold front blew through today, and we're promised a really nice 55-60 degree morning on Friday. It topped out in the mid-70's this afternoon, which feels like much cooler due to the comparison to the previous month or more. Awesome. It's amazing how much friendlier and happier people have been today, too, strictly because we're not fighting the heat every time we walk from our cars to a store or school. It's about time!
Anyway, this evening, I went out for my scheduled easy recovery run of 50-60 minutes. I was heavily laden with electronic gizmos, but too bad, that's the way I roll on this particular workout. GPS locked in, HR monitor set for Recovery Zone, and iPod set to Shuffle, I took off in the 'Hood at 7:00 pm, content to just roam until the time for the run had expired. It was time for the fourth or fifth run with the Fila shoes, which work just fine for all these short to mid-length runs. I'm a little hesitant to use them on the longer runs just yet.
It was really great out there, finally. Temps dropping the whole run long, maybe to the low 60's by the end of it. It was fairly windy, too. After the brutal September we had, this was like a perfect spring day. The running was easy, and I had no trouble staying in recovery HR range. Ran back to the water tower trail behind the 'Hood first, due to falling daylight, and had the fun off-road portion of the run first. Then, settled in, I ran the rest of the time on the streets. It was just a fun run. Ended up knocking out 6.5 miles at 9:23/mile pace, just over an hour, and it felt really easy. Legs fine, all systems go.
Lots of fun stuff on the iPod, too, ranging from Nirvana (acoustic) to John Lennon to Nick Drake to Run DMC to all possible points in between. Every time I hear one of the Run DMC tracks, I smile. It's just really fun rap music, old school style. I can't help but make the record scratching motion when I hear that come up on a track. Cool.
Tomorrow is a visit to the gym, and Saturday is Bonnell. So far, a great running week. And the Braves are even winning tonight (so far)...!
What a wonderful change in the weather during the course of the day! The very long-promised cold front blew through today, and we're promised a really nice 55-60 degree morning on Friday. It topped out in the mid-70's this afternoon, which feels like much cooler due to the comparison to the previous month or more. Awesome. It's amazing how much friendlier and happier people have been today, too, strictly because we're not fighting the heat every time we walk from our cars to a store or school. It's about time!
Anyway, this evening, I went out for my scheduled easy recovery run of 50-60 minutes. I was heavily laden with electronic gizmos, but too bad, that's the way I roll on this particular workout. GPS locked in, HR monitor set for Recovery Zone, and iPod set to Shuffle, I took off in the 'Hood at 7:00 pm, content to just roam until the time for the run had expired. It was time for the fourth or fifth run with the Fila shoes, which work just fine for all these short to mid-length runs. I'm a little hesitant to use them on the longer runs just yet.
It was really great out there, finally. Temps dropping the whole run long, maybe to the low 60's by the end of it. It was fairly windy, too. After the brutal September we had, this was like a perfect spring day. The running was easy, and I had no trouble staying in recovery HR range. Ran back to the water tower trail behind the 'Hood first, due to falling daylight, and had the fun off-road portion of the run first. Then, settled in, I ran the rest of the time on the streets. It was just a fun run. Ended up knocking out 6.5 miles at 9:23/mile pace, just over an hour, and it felt really easy. Legs fine, all systems go.
Lots of fun stuff on the iPod, too, ranging from Nirvana (acoustic) to John Lennon to Nick Drake to Run DMC to all possible points in between. Every time I hear one of the Run DMC tracks, I smile. It's just really fun rap music, old school style. I can't help but make the record scratching motion when I hear that come up on a track. Cool.
Tomorrow is a visit to the gym, and Saturday is Bonnell. So far, a great running week. And the Braves are even winning tonight (so far)...!
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
800's At Dawn
Hopefully this was the last really warm morning for a Gazelles workout, as the cold front is supposed to bring us delightful weather starting on Thursday. We'll see about that, but today we had business to attend to, and we gathered early for the warmup run to Austin High School. It was a smaller crowd since the Chicago people were meeting a little later for a session of gentle warmup and some strides. About 10 of us ran over to Austin High, interspersed with a zillion Rogue Training runners on the trail. I exaggerate, but you get the idea. I didn't know many of our people, since this is mostly the new Freescale people, but I'd get to know some of them by the end of the workout. By the time the drills were finished, we had around 20 people, maybe slightly more, including some of Gilbert's beginner class.
Drills drilled, we were ready to do our 800's. Shae and Bernard were there to get us started, since Gilbert was with the Chicago folks initially. We were to do between 2 and 6 repeats, with Richard and Marcy scheduled for 10 x 800, since NYC is still a while away for them. Since we didn't really know who was running what pace, we just all started at various times for the first 800. I knew my pace was supposed to be 3:30 on average, so I set out trying to find that pace, chasing Richard and Marcy just ahead of me. We had the inside lanes, and the Rogue people had the outside 4 lanes. I think they were doing a continuous run where they ran the straights hard and walked or jogged the turns, sort of track-based fartlek workout. At least that's my impression.
Gilbert showed up after I had finished two repeats, and during my 2:00 rest after that one, he had Sally join me, with instructions for her "not to pass Jay." She had blasted out her first two at something like 3:17 pace, and he thought that was way too fast if she was to do a decent number of repeats. So, for the next 3 repeats, she was a good pace partner, but you could tell she wanted to pick it up from time to time. For repeat number 6, she started with me, but almost immediately ran out of gas, so I finished by running that repeat by myself again. I amused myself by chasing down Jennifer and Bryan on my last lap, which was their first lap of number 5 or 6. It was nice to have someone to run with on those 3 middle repeats. I think next time, Sally will run with me from the start, and won't have a problem finishing the workout.
Splits: 3:33, 3:29, 3:32, 3:28, 3:27, 3:20. Somewhat consistent times, and a good last repeat.
I knocked out 3x200 strides on the track after I had grabbed a cup or two of Powerade, and then joined Jennifer and Bryan for the cooldown run back to RunTex. As is usual, we started out nice and easy, but picked it up gradually until we reached RunTex. Jennifer didn't realize she was pushing until I pointed it out to her. That's something else we'll work out with the new folks over the coming weeks. Also, Gilbert is slowly gathering the information on the new Gazelles so that we'll have pace groups soon for the various track workouts.
Once we got back to RunTex, I got the totally wet singlet off and changed into a dry shirt, and joined the Chicago people who had just finished their last pre-race workout for stretching. We joked and chatted while they got last-minute words from Coach, arranging a meeting time for the Saturday pre-race easy jog and stretching up in Chicago. Gilbert is going with them, which will be really great for the Gazelles. It was nice to see Jan, Patrick, Frank and Sean before they leave town on Friday. Actually, I think those four are all on the same flight, which will be pretty neat.
It was sort of nice out after the stretching, so I found myself in a long conversation with Jason and Richard afterwards. It seems that none of us were in a hurry to rejoin the "real world," so it was lots of running talk as we hung out.
It was a fun day of running once again. About 7 miles total, with 4800 meters of faster intervals in there at an average 6:59/mile pace. Slowly, I'm getting better and stronger. Tomorrow is an easy hour run, and Saturday is Mount Bonnel for 14 miles. Cool! Sunday is when I follow all my friends in Chicago, virtually, as they run their marathon. Should be exciting.
Hopefully this was the last really warm morning for a Gazelles workout, as the cold front is supposed to bring us delightful weather starting on Thursday. We'll see about that, but today we had business to attend to, and we gathered early for the warmup run to Austin High School. It was a smaller crowd since the Chicago people were meeting a little later for a session of gentle warmup and some strides. About 10 of us ran over to Austin High, interspersed with a zillion Rogue Training runners on the trail. I exaggerate, but you get the idea. I didn't know many of our people, since this is mostly the new Freescale people, but I'd get to know some of them by the end of the workout. By the time the drills were finished, we had around 20 people, maybe slightly more, including some of Gilbert's beginner class.
Drills drilled, we were ready to do our 800's. Shae and Bernard were there to get us started, since Gilbert was with the Chicago folks initially. We were to do between 2 and 6 repeats, with Richard and Marcy scheduled for 10 x 800, since NYC is still a while away for them. Since we didn't really know who was running what pace, we just all started at various times for the first 800. I knew my pace was supposed to be 3:30 on average, so I set out trying to find that pace, chasing Richard and Marcy just ahead of me. We had the inside lanes, and the Rogue people had the outside 4 lanes. I think they were doing a continuous run where they ran the straights hard and walked or jogged the turns, sort of track-based fartlek workout. At least that's my impression.
Gilbert showed up after I had finished two repeats, and during my 2:00 rest after that one, he had Sally join me, with instructions for her "not to pass Jay." She had blasted out her first two at something like 3:17 pace, and he thought that was way too fast if she was to do a decent number of repeats. So, for the next 3 repeats, she was a good pace partner, but you could tell she wanted to pick it up from time to time. For repeat number 6, she started with me, but almost immediately ran out of gas, so I finished by running that repeat by myself again. I amused myself by chasing down Jennifer and Bryan on my last lap, which was their first lap of number 5 or 6. It was nice to have someone to run with on those 3 middle repeats. I think next time, Sally will run with me from the start, and won't have a problem finishing the workout.
Splits: 3:33, 3:29, 3:32, 3:28, 3:27, 3:20. Somewhat consistent times, and a good last repeat.
I knocked out 3x200 strides on the track after I had grabbed a cup or two of Powerade, and then joined Jennifer and Bryan for the cooldown run back to RunTex. As is usual, we started out nice and easy, but picked it up gradually until we reached RunTex. Jennifer didn't realize she was pushing until I pointed it out to her. That's something else we'll work out with the new folks over the coming weeks. Also, Gilbert is slowly gathering the information on the new Gazelles so that we'll have pace groups soon for the various track workouts.
Once we got back to RunTex, I got the totally wet singlet off and changed into a dry shirt, and joined the Chicago people who had just finished their last pre-race workout for stretching. We joked and chatted while they got last-minute words from Coach, arranging a meeting time for the Saturday pre-race easy jog and stretching up in Chicago. Gilbert is going with them, which will be really great for the Gazelles. It was nice to see Jan, Patrick, Frank and Sean before they leave town on Friday. Actually, I think those four are all on the same flight, which will be pretty neat.
It was sort of nice out after the stretching, so I found myself in a long conversation with Jason and Richard afterwards. It seems that none of us were in a hurry to rejoin the "real world," so it was lots of running talk as we hung out.
It was a fun day of running once again. About 7 miles total, with 4800 meters of faster intervals in there at an average 6:59/mile pace. Slowly, I'm getting better and stronger. Tomorrow is an easy hour run, and Saturday is Mount Bonnel for 14 miles. Cool! Sunday is when I follow all my friends in Chicago, virtually, as they run their marathon. Should be exciting.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Slim Gym
Not really. It was a pretty fun day in the gym, at least as much fun as that sort of thing can be. I was much smarter than last Friday, and had a banana and Power Bar before the workout instead of big 'ol Fuddruckers lunch, and that certainly helped my outlook.
The core stuff was occasionally rugged, but basically I've got two chunks of exercises there that are toughest. The first hard things are the first things I do, the Roman Chair straight leg lifts and the knee raises. Those are just tough, especially since they're first, but after that, most of the following exercises aren't so bad. Until the Plank, that is. I've added those static position exercises, the Plank, the leg lift, and the Oblique plank (or whatever it's called). I'm slowly increasing the time on each of those, but it's serious Tremble Time towards the end of each one of those. Good for me, but challenging.
Today on legs, I added the 4-way hip machine back into the mix, since I had time for it. Those exercises are mostly a recovery type thing, to help flush out the legs on off days.
Upper body exercises were less involved due to slight time crunch, but I got in quality sets of bicep curls, bench, and tricep extensions.
All things considered, a really good workout. Once I took off the iPod, I realized once again how dreadful much of the in-house music is at Gold's, and was grateful for my musical toy. A fun segue today was during calf raises, when the song sequence went: The Cult's "Little Devil" to AC/DC's "Hell's Bells." Blind luck will generate seemingly brilliant song sequences, but it's still fun when the iPod does stuff like that.
Not really. It was a pretty fun day in the gym, at least as much fun as that sort of thing can be. I was much smarter than last Friday, and had a banana and Power Bar before the workout instead of big 'ol Fuddruckers lunch, and that certainly helped my outlook.
The core stuff was occasionally rugged, but basically I've got two chunks of exercises there that are toughest. The first hard things are the first things I do, the Roman Chair straight leg lifts and the knee raises. Those are just tough, especially since they're first, but after that, most of the following exercises aren't so bad. Until the Plank, that is. I've added those static position exercises, the Plank, the leg lift, and the Oblique plank (or whatever it's called). I'm slowly increasing the time on each of those, but it's serious Tremble Time towards the end of each one of those. Good for me, but challenging.
Today on legs, I added the 4-way hip machine back into the mix, since I had time for it. Those exercises are mostly a recovery type thing, to help flush out the legs on off days.
Upper body exercises were less involved due to slight time crunch, but I got in quality sets of bicep curls, bench, and tricep extensions.
All things considered, a really good workout. Once I took off the iPod, I realized once again how dreadful much of the in-house music is at Gold's, and was grateful for my musical toy. A fun segue today was during calf raises, when the song sequence went: The Cult's "Little Devil" to AC/DC's "Hell's Bells." Blind luck will generate seemingly brilliant song sequences, but it's still fun when the iPod does stuff like that.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Easy Recovery Running
The morning after yesterday's speedier exertions, we got together today for a really easy 7 miler. Gilbert emphasized that we weren't to go fast at all, that this was all about letting the legs have a rolling recovery. The Chicago marathoners who didn't race yesterday went out for a single 2000m loop at marathon goal pace, with easy warmup and cooldown on either side of it. Those Chicago peeps who did race yesterday weren't really supposed to be here at all.
So, our pack of Alex, Liliana, Amy, Marcy and Richard did the I-35 loop clockwise for a change. We followed Gilbert's instructions to the letter, covering 7.1 miles at an average 10:05 running pace. We stopped for water twice, because we could, and finished things off with strides (6x100m strides). It was a really social run, with a lot of conversation as we enjoyed the easy running. That didn't stop it from being a warm and muggy morning, but the run itself was quite nice. HR numbers were perfectly in the recovery zone, too.
After that, Alex and Amy and I did stretching (Richard did the "accelerated" version of the stretching ritual, just to hit the high points), and then the three of us did a range of situps totalling 200. I particularly enjoyed when I made Alex laugh so hard that he couldn't finish one of his first sets. That was a first!
This was just a nice day of running, as we wait for the long-promised cold front coming in on late Wednesday, supposedly. I'm not exactly sure what Gilbert will have in store on Wednesday for those of us not doing Chicago, but it might be 800's again. We'll see. In the meantime, tomorrow is an easy run again with a visit to the gym, which should work out any residual soreness from the race. I'll also get a massage scheduled for Wednesday as preventative maintenance.
The morning after yesterday's speedier exertions, we got together today for a really easy 7 miler. Gilbert emphasized that we weren't to go fast at all, that this was all about letting the legs have a rolling recovery. The Chicago marathoners who didn't race yesterday went out for a single 2000m loop at marathon goal pace, with easy warmup and cooldown on either side of it. Those Chicago peeps who did race yesterday weren't really supposed to be here at all.
So, our pack of Alex, Liliana, Amy, Marcy and Richard did the I-35 loop clockwise for a change. We followed Gilbert's instructions to the letter, covering 7.1 miles at an average 10:05 running pace. We stopped for water twice, because we could, and finished things off with strides (6x100m strides). It was a really social run, with a lot of conversation as we enjoyed the easy running. That didn't stop it from being a warm and muggy morning, but the run itself was quite nice. HR numbers were perfectly in the recovery zone, too.
After that, Alex and Amy and I did stretching (Richard did the "accelerated" version of the stretching ritual, just to hit the high points), and then the three of us did a range of situps totalling 200. I particularly enjoyed when I made Alex laugh so hard that he couldn't finish one of his first sets. That was a first!
This was just a nice day of running, as we wait for the long-promised cold front coming in on late Wednesday, supposedly. I'm not exactly sure what Gilbert will have in store on Wednesday for those of us not doing Chicago, but it might be 800's again. We'll see. In the meantime, tomorrow is an easy run again with a visit to the gym, which should work out any residual soreness from the race. I'll also get a massage scheduled for Wednesday as preventative maintenance.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
IBM Uptown Classic 10K
This morning, it was time for the first race in the Distance Challenge, the IBM Classic 10K. It had a new course this year, which promised to be faster than the course that looped around and around the IBM campus up north. It had some subtle inclines in it, but nothing monstrous. My only concern was the weather, which was warm and muggy. At least the sun didn't come out during the race!
I met up with Frank right away in the parking lot (he must have seen me drive up), and we went over to meet the troops for the warmup and drills. Alex was about to jump over the start/finish banner, he was so excited, and the rest of us were, um, cautiously optimistic about the coming race. The Chicago folks were supposed to cruise the race at a pace not any faster than their planned marathon goal pace, and the rest of us were supposed to go pretty hard so that Gilbert could "see where we were."
The warmup run was up and back the last mile or so of the course, and Gilbert set the pace, so it was really slow. We were probably running at a 10:00/mile pace, but it was all about getting the legs ready to run. Once we got back near the start/finish line, we took over a parking lot for drills, strides, and some light stretching. Except for a case of nerves, I felt good. Frank and I headed back to the start line, and I took a GU on the way. We found some water, and I topped off the hydration reserves. It was time to line up, and we chose a spot fairly far back, ending up about 1:45 to the start after the horn sounded. The National Anthem was sung, the Governor said something that none of us could hear, and we were off.
I lost Frank in the initial stampede, which was critical only in that we sort of planned to run the same pace...he doing his MGP, and me going for a PR, which coincidentally were the same. As I made my way through the madding crowd, I saw him ahead, and kept him in sight as we turned down Shoal Creek. That road winds along, with a very slight downhill trend. I missed the first mile marker, and skipped the first water stop. During mile 2, I passed the Gov, who was surrounded by his two bodyguards. Once I saw the 2 mile marker, on White Rock, I saw that I was pretty much on pace, and felt pretty good at the time. I was warm, but with the sun hiding behind overcast skies, it was tolerable so far.
Mile 2 split: 15:42 (7:51/mile pace).
White Rock took a short rise up to Great Northern, and so we were running the Freescale Marathon course "backwards," which for that race means we were trending uphill. I was pretty spry in this part, and caught up with Jan and Frank during this chunk of the course. I got a quick drink and a splash of water over my head at the water stop there, and may have gotten a little aggressive with my running there. The mile 3 split seemed way fast, but more on that later. I kept moving along, and Frank stayed back with Jan for a bit, so I kept rolling along. It still felt like a "run how you feel" situation, but I was glad when we turned back towards Shoal Creek and we got a slight decline on the road. We turned once more up Shoal Creek, towards the last hill on the course, such as it was. Mile 4's split seemed way off, so I assumed (later confirmed to a degree) that the mile 3 marker was short. I interpret my splits as such:
Mile 3 and 4 splits: Mile 3: 7:17 for .9 miles, 8:06 pace, Mile 4: 8:31 for 1.1 miles, 7:45 pace. That's about right, based on GPS data from those folks wearing such a device. So, I was doing well still...suffering a bit due to temperature, but hanging in there.
Mile 5 featured the fairly significant uphill bit on Shoal Creek. I pushed up the hill, passing a good number of folks, but I was starting to suffer a bit. I saw Amy ahead of me maybe 40 yards, so I started keeping her in sight as an aid to keep me moving. Another water stop was in here somewhere, and I did the sip and splash water stop routine there for the last time. I knew that I was in the home stretch, but it was still hard to push, given the heat. I also saw Charlene in this stretch, and stayed with her as we turned towards the elementary school up there and the last long stretch back to the mall. There was one last slight rise, and finishing that, I tried to recover just a bit on the first part of the last mile. Frank caught back up to me in here, and just told me to follow him to the finish. That helped a lot, since I was seriously thinking about walking at the time! Going down that long stretch, I was able to get rolling again, and we eventually caught Amy right at the 6 mile marker.
Gilbert was there, yelling at me and Amy to stay with Frank to the finish. I hoped my form was somewhat in shape, but I'm sure I looked a mess by then. I felt like a mess, that's for sure. We turned for the final stretch, and Frank called back to me to "draft" behind him, and he'd push me to the finish line. I wasn't really sure what my prospective finishing time would be, but I knew I had to kick it hard. I was making pretty good noises as I huffed and puffed to the finish, much to Frank's amusement, I think. I found a pretty good final gear, and Frank allowed me to go by near the finish, and I was done. Amy finished just after us.
I spent a few seconds gasping, and then moved gently ahead, grabbing an ice cold Ozarka water for the start of what would be a lengthy post-race rehydration. I was drenched, but relatively happy with my time. That time, you ask?
Splits miles 5, 6, 6.21: 8:11, 8:00, 1:22 (6:35 pace for that last .21 miles). Total time 49:04, 7:54 average pace. On a bad weather day, that is an acceptable time. I did have a negative split after all that, 7:55 pace for the first 2.9 miles, 7:53 pace for last 3.3 miles, mostly thanks to that great final kick.
We all found our way over to the bananas and other food, and I finished off that water on the way. A banana was pretty tasty, too. I just couldn't face a piece of pizza, even though it was the really good Mangia pizza. Alex and Frank had some, of course, but my stomach just wasn't curious about it today. There was lots of chatter after the race, as usual, and most of us who were seriously racing finished about a minute or so slower than we had hoped. I'll put that down to weather-related casualties. Gazelles were heavily represented at the top of the various age group divisions, of course. Alex ran a good race, in particular. Frank was happy with his relative ease in covering the 10K with me. Shannon ran a little ahead of me, too. Richard had a PR, but he suffered in the second half of the race like the rest of us did.
Frank and I cut through the mall to go to our cars for Endurox, and it was downright cold in there after generating so much heat during the race. I changed into a dry shirt, and after that, I was feeling a lot better. We went back to the post-race scene and found even more Gazelles to chat with, while the Kids 1K was held. Joseph ran his first race, ever, and probably did pretty well. I'll check that out later. I'm just happy that he finally got the courage to get out there and test himself. I'm sure he beat me pretty good. I saw Gene Woodruff, my old friend from Wimberley, and it was good to catch up with him as the DC starts anew. I'm sure I'll see him on the course during every single DC race. At least it seems that way.
They started giving away whole pizzas by then, and Alex and Frank scored a couple of pies each. Again, I just couldn't get excited about real food, but they sure looked good. We saw Gilbert and Bernard on the way to our cars, and Coach gave us our marching orders for Monday's workout. I'll meet Alex and Amy tomorrow for a really easy 7 miles, and I think I'll try and do the full stretching afterwards, as well.
A decent race, not a great one, but an event PR, and my second fastest Masters 10K ever, so I've got to accept that as something worthwhile. My relative position in the standings was better than last year, too, so I've got to take improvement as a positive. It'll be interesting to see where I am in the DC standings when they come out on Tuesday or Wednesday, too. I don't have any great notions that I'll finish really high there, but it would be cool to improve my position there this year.
This morning, it was time for the first race in the Distance Challenge, the IBM Classic 10K. It had a new course this year, which promised to be faster than the course that looped around and around the IBM campus up north. It had some subtle inclines in it, but nothing monstrous. My only concern was the weather, which was warm and muggy. At least the sun didn't come out during the race!
I met up with Frank right away in the parking lot (he must have seen me drive up), and we went over to meet the troops for the warmup and drills. Alex was about to jump over the start/finish banner, he was so excited, and the rest of us were, um, cautiously optimistic about the coming race. The Chicago folks were supposed to cruise the race at a pace not any faster than their planned marathon goal pace, and the rest of us were supposed to go pretty hard so that Gilbert could "see where we were."
The warmup run was up and back the last mile or so of the course, and Gilbert set the pace, so it was really slow. We were probably running at a 10:00/mile pace, but it was all about getting the legs ready to run. Once we got back near the start/finish line, we took over a parking lot for drills, strides, and some light stretching. Except for a case of nerves, I felt good. Frank and I headed back to the start line, and I took a GU on the way. We found some water, and I topped off the hydration reserves. It was time to line up, and we chose a spot fairly far back, ending up about 1:45 to the start after the horn sounded. The National Anthem was sung, the Governor said something that none of us could hear, and we were off.
I lost Frank in the initial stampede, which was critical only in that we sort of planned to run the same pace...he doing his MGP, and me going for a PR, which coincidentally were the same. As I made my way through the madding crowd, I saw him ahead, and kept him in sight as we turned down Shoal Creek. That road winds along, with a very slight downhill trend. I missed the first mile marker, and skipped the first water stop. During mile 2, I passed the Gov, who was surrounded by his two bodyguards. Once I saw the 2 mile marker, on White Rock, I saw that I was pretty much on pace, and felt pretty good at the time. I was warm, but with the sun hiding behind overcast skies, it was tolerable so far.
Mile 2 split: 15:42 (7:51/mile pace).
White Rock took a short rise up to Great Northern, and so we were running the Freescale Marathon course "backwards," which for that race means we were trending uphill. I was pretty spry in this part, and caught up with Jan and Frank during this chunk of the course. I got a quick drink and a splash of water over my head at the water stop there, and may have gotten a little aggressive with my running there. The mile 3 split seemed way fast, but more on that later. I kept moving along, and Frank stayed back with Jan for a bit, so I kept rolling along. It still felt like a "run how you feel" situation, but I was glad when we turned back towards Shoal Creek and we got a slight decline on the road. We turned once more up Shoal Creek, towards the last hill on the course, such as it was. Mile 4's split seemed way off, so I assumed (later confirmed to a degree) that the mile 3 marker was short. I interpret my splits as such:
Mile 3 and 4 splits: Mile 3: 7:17 for .9 miles, 8:06 pace, Mile 4: 8:31 for 1.1 miles, 7:45 pace. That's about right, based on GPS data from those folks wearing such a device. So, I was doing well still...suffering a bit due to temperature, but hanging in there.
Mile 5 featured the fairly significant uphill bit on Shoal Creek. I pushed up the hill, passing a good number of folks, but I was starting to suffer a bit. I saw Amy ahead of me maybe 40 yards, so I started keeping her in sight as an aid to keep me moving. Another water stop was in here somewhere, and I did the sip and splash water stop routine there for the last time. I knew that I was in the home stretch, but it was still hard to push, given the heat. I also saw Charlene in this stretch, and stayed with her as we turned towards the elementary school up there and the last long stretch back to the mall. There was one last slight rise, and finishing that, I tried to recover just a bit on the first part of the last mile. Frank caught back up to me in here, and just told me to follow him to the finish. That helped a lot, since I was seriously thinking about walking at the time! Going down that long stretch, I was able to get rolling again, and we eventually caught Amy right at the 6 mile marker.
Gilbert was there, yelling at me and Amy to stay with Frank to the finish. I hoped my form was somewhat in shape, but I'm sure I looked a mess by then. I felt like a mess, that's for sure. We turned for the final stretch, and Frank called back to me to "draft" behind him, and he'd push me to the finish line. I wasn't really sure what my prospective finishing time would be, but I knew I had to kick it hard. I was making pretty good noises as I huffed and puffed to the finish, much to Frank's amusement, I think. I found a pretty good final gear, and Frank allowed me to go by near the finish, and I was done. Amy finished just after us.
I spent a few seconds gasping, and then moved gently ahead, grabbing an ice cold Ozarka water for the start of what would be a lengthy post-race rehydration. I was drenched, but relatively happy with my time. That time, you ask?
Splits miles 5, 6, 6.21: 8:11, 8:00, 1:22 (6:35 pace for that last .21 miles). Total time 49:04, 7:54 average pace. On a bad weather day, that is an acceptable time. I did have a negative split after all that, 7:55 pace for the first 2.9 miles, 7:53 pace for last 3.3 miles, mostly thanks to that great final kick.
We all found our way over to the bananas and other food, and I finished off that water on the way. A banana was pretty tasty, too. I just couldn't face a piece of pizza, even though it was the really good Mangia pizza. Alex and Frank had some, of course, but my stomach just wasn't curious about it today. There was lots of chatter after the race, as usual, and most of us who were seriously racing finished about a minute or so slower than we had hoped. I'll put that down to weather-related casualties. Gazelles were heavily represented at the top of the various age group divisions, of course. Alex ran a good race, in particular. Frank was happy with his relative ease in covering the 10K with me. Shannon ran a little ahead of me, too. Richard had a PR, but he suffered in the second half of the race like the rest of us did.
Frank and I cut through the mall to go to our cars for Endurox, and it was downright cold in there after generating so much heat during the race. I changed into a dry shirt, and after that, I was feeling a lot better. We went back to the post-race scene and found even more Gazelles to chat with, while the Kids 1K was held. Joseph ran his first race, ever, and probably did pretty well. I'll check that out later. I'm just happy that he finally got the courage to get out there and test himself. I'm sure he beat me pretty good. I saw Gene Woodruff, my old friend from Wimberley, and it was good to catch up with him as the DC starts anew. I'm sure I'll see him on the course during every single DC race. At least it seems that way.
They started giving away whole pizzas by then, and Alex and Frank scored a couple of pies each. Again, I just couldn't get excited about real food, but they sure looked good. We saw Gilbert and Bernard on the way to our cars, and Coach gave us our marching orders for Monday's workout. I'll meet Alex and Amy tomorrow for a really easy 7 miles, and I think I'll try and do the full stretching afterwards, as well.
A decent race, not a great one, but an event PR, and my second fastest Masters 10K ever, so I've got to accept that as something worthwhile. My relative position in the standings was better than last year, too, so I've got to take improvement as a positive. It'll be interesting to see where I am in the DC standings when they come out on Tuesday or Wednesday, too. I don't have any great notions that I'll finish really high there, but it would be cool to improve my position there this year.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Jog and Stretch (& Smile For the Camera)
This morning, we got to sleep in, and met at 7:45 for a really easy 30 minute jog on the trail. This was mainly to warm up the legs enough for the Saturday stretching. I ran with a big group, and we clocked about 3 miles at almost exactly 10:00/mile. We did break a sweat, but there wasn't much heavy breathing.
We followed that up with a group picture session at Auditorium Shores, near where the big stage is being set up for Lance Armstrong & Sheryl Crow are hosting their free concert and "Gift To Austin" on Sunday evening. Pictures were as disorganized as they always are, but I'm sure they'll be fun to see later.
The stretching was a little odd, because the earlier groups in the picture-taking carousel started ahead of some of the rest of us, and we were all sort of off sequence the whole time. Nevertheless, we accomplished our goal for the morning. Gilbert gave us some last-minute recommendations for the 10K tomorrow, and gave us our pre-race warmup time.
Really an uneventful morning of exercise, but everyone was in a really good mood, and it is always fun to see the herd. Now, I just need to rest and get ready for tomorrow. I won't have to wake up really early, so that's a plus. I hope my results are as good as my plan. For a change, I'm not going to plan each mile or even have a goal of anything fancy. I just would like to break 48:00, preferably to set a new Masters 10K PR of 47:52, and a negative split would be cool. I hope I don't drive Frank crazy as he paces along with me...
This morning, we got to sleep in, and met at 7:45 for a really easy 30 minute jog on the trail. This was mainly to warm up the legs enough for the Saturday stretching. I ran with a big group, and we clocked about 3 miles at almost exactly 10:00/mile. We did break a sweat, but there wasn't much heavy breathing.
We followed that up with a group picture session at Auditorium Shores, near where the big stage is being set up for Lance Armstrong & Sheryl Crow are hosting their free concert and "Gift To Austin" on Sunday evening. Pictures were as disorganized as they always are, but I'm sure they'll be fun to see later.
The stretching was a little odd, because the earlier groups in the picture-taking carousel started ahead of some of the rest of us, and we were all sort of off sequence the whole time. Nevertheless, we accomplished our goal for the morning. Gilbert gave us some last-minute recommendations for the 10K tomorrow, and gave us our pre-race warmup time.
Really an uneventful morning of exercise, but everyone was in a really good mood, and it is always fun to see the herd. Now, I just need to rest and get ready for tomorrow. I won't have to wake up really early, so that's a plus. I hope my results are as good as my plan. For a change, I'm not going to plan each mile or even have a goal of anything fancy. I just would like to break 48:00, preferably to set a new Masters 10K PR of 47:52, and a negative split would be cool. I hope I don't drive Frank crazy as he paces along with me...
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